


By Your Side

by Ayanna2495



Series: The path we chose together [2]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Canon Divergence - The Tyranny of King Washington, Childbirth, Connor Deserves Happiness, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Family Fluff, Married Life, Married Ratonhnhaké:ton | Connor, OC is no Assassin, Period-Typical Racism, Physical Abuse, Post-Assassin's Creed III, Pregnancy, Racist Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:13:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26053252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayanna2495/pseuds/Ayanna2495
Summary: Sequel of "Freedom": Lillian returned to America and to Connor, but how is her life going to develop? What does it mean to live at the side of a man whose life is anything but staid and peaceful?
Relationships: Ratonhnhaké:ton | Connor/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The path we chose together [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864585
Kudos: 10





	1. New life and new old problems

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [An deiner Seite](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/671605) by Ayanna2495. 



> Hey everyone :)
> 
> Here it is, the first chapter of the "Freedom" sequel. But before starting, I have some important things to say:
> 
> First of all, this story is originally written in German, I do the translation on my own and started re-editing it in 2020. So I'm already sorry for every kind of mistake that should be left. You can find the link to the original version on my profile.
> 
> When I started this story a few years ago, I had no end in mind. I just wanted to write until I am out of ideas. It doesn't mean, that the story doesn't follow a plot and a thread. All the plots and ideas build on one another BUT the story ist very long and even though I have the ending planned by now, there are still a lot of chapters to come.
> 
> Second: for this story, I do a lot of research about the historical and cultural background because I want it to be as realistic as possible. Of course, I am not an expert and there can be some mistakes or parts, where I used my freedom as an author. Especially the research about the Mohawk culture is important to me because it helps me a lot to keep Connor in character. At least, I hope so. ^^ So if there is anything I have to explain about the background of the story, I will put it into notes at the end of a chapter. But you are also free to ask me if there is anything you don't know or understand. As long as I can explain it, I will.
> 
> I do not own anything of the AC-universe!
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading. :)

_April 1784_

The spring sun was shining brightly and warmly from the light blue sky and a light wind carried the scent of grass, flowers, and the sea. It was a beautiful day and lost in thought, I paused in my work, leaned my weight on the broomstick in my hand and let my eyes roam over the homestead's paths that led past the inn.

The people passing by all had a smile on their lips, greeted friendly, and attended to their work, full of beans. I could hear the splashing of the river nearby, that crossed the homestead. Just as the regular sound of the lumberjacks' sawmill. Everyone was busy but it was so peaceful at the same time and again I knew exactly why I had felt comfortable and had settled in so quickly.

Three months ago, Maria and I had arrived in America, and right from the beginning, it had been easy for us to feel like a part of the community. Maria had moved into a small house on the edge of the homestead and was helping the tailor Ellen in her shop. I lived, with Connor and the boy Caleb, in the mansion but in the beginning, I'd had problems in occupying myself.

I had taken care of the household but had noticed quickly that I had no talent for it. As the spoiled daughter of a merchant, I only knew the word "housekeeping" as giving orders to servants. I never had been forced to lift a finger and when I had helped the old Noel in his house, not so long ago, he rather had been a help for me than the other way around.

Now I was on my own and that was mainly because I had too much pride to ask for help. I expected from myself that I, as a woman, did the household on my own. Connor was busy enough and Caleb also should be able to take care of other things.

But eventually, I had realized that I was untalented in being a housewife and should ask for help and so Corrine, the innkeeper of the homestead, had offered to me, that I could help in the inn and she shared her experiences with me in return. At least it gave me the feeling that I wasn't completely useless and I got in touch with the settlers and the sailors who were visiting the inn.

The latter were mainly crewmembers of the Aquila, the ship under Connor's command and they still remembered the day, when I had sneaked on board, dressed like a man. They had taken it amiss but in the meantime, they seemed to have forgotten their resentment.

They were forgetting many things when you served Ale to them.

Anyway, I enjoyed the work in the inn, even though it was connected with sweeping the interior and the terrace in front of the entrance door, which I was doing right now.

I disengaged from my relaxed position, readjusted the scarf on my head, that was supposed to curb my hair, and took the broom.

While I swept the dirt away, that had been brought up by the guest's shoes, a cart rumbled on the backyard of the inn. It was Oliver, Corrine's husband, who had run errands in Boston with Caleb. When I raised my head shortly and looked to them, I saw the eleven-years-old blonde jumping from the load bed and eagerly helping the elderly innkeeper with unloading the boxes and barrels. He was a good boy. Always working hard and in a good mood and you could almost forget that he had lost his grandfather and with him his whole family only a few months ago.

But he was happy to be here and I was happy that we had taken him under our wings. He was a ray of sunshine and even though I really wouldn't say that I had maternal feelings for him, he had grown dear to my heart. Although we hadn't liked each other after our first meeting. But I'd had more than one first meeting like this during the last year.

With a smirk on my lips, I put the broom aside and went back into the inn. Only three sailors were sitting in one of the corners. But it was almost lunchtime and then the people were certainly going to find their way here. A delicious smell was already flowing out the kitchen and I followed it with determination. Corrine stood behind her big stove and fried a great amount of meat in a cast-iron pan. The fat sizzled and it smelled so good that my mouth was already watering. I went and stand beside Corrine and glanced curiously into a pot in which she was boiling potatoes.

"Is that rabbit?" I pointed at the pan and Corrine nodded.

"These beasts are breeding quickly lately. Warren was often complaining about them gnawing at his vegetables and almost every day, Connor is bringing some, too when he comes back from the woods."

I nodded and leaned my hip against the counter while I was watching Corrine frying the meat.

"Can I help you somehow?"

"You could pour off the potatoes, sweetheart. But please take care of your fingers."

Smirking I took a towel, wagged it in front of her nose, and grabbed the heavy pot with it, to carry it to the sink.

Unfortunately, Corrine's concerns weren't unnecessary. When I had cooked with her the first time, I had courageously and thoughtlessly grabbed a hot handle, without protecting my hands. The upshot was that I had almost spilled the whole pot of hot water and had sustained blisters on both of my hands. Like I had said: I wasn't a talented housewife but in the meantime, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Without an accident, I poured off the potatoes when a blonde whirlwind stormed through the door and stopped in its frame, sniffing.

"Is lunch ready?", Caleb asked excitedly and even jumped from one foot onto the other. Chuckling I put the pot aside while Corrine raised the wooden spoon and wagged it towards Caleb.

"How often do I have to tell you, that you mustn't run around like that? One day you will knock somebody over who's carrying hot water." She pointed at the door. "You will get some. Sit at the bar and wait."

The boy sulked but pushed off while I was still giggling.

"This boy is worse than a bunch of fleas", the innkeeper mumbled and pushed the pan from the hot plate. "I have respect for you and Connor that you are looking after him. You don't even have children of your own but are already having an adolescent bundle of energy. But maybe it's a good practice."

She smirked and winked at me, which made me turn my eyes away and stare at the pot of potatoes instead.

I had heard this hint often enough from other settlers already. But I certainly didn't see Caleb as a practice for own children. God, I wasn't even thinking about having children with Connor one day. At least we weren't living together for long yet and until now, we hadn't talked about our future. We wanted to take it slow in every aspect. To have children, there was one essential step left, for that I wasn't ready yet at all. Not at least because of my strict education.

I was glad that I didn't need to explain it to Connor yet because luckily he wasn't pestering me at all, even though we were sharing a bed. A fact whose reason made me blush with the thought alone and which I didn't talk about to anyone because it made me feel uncomfortable. Fearing, they could judge me for it although I couldn't imagine sleeping without Connor by my side anymore. In the first two weeks, after I had moved in with Caleb and him, he had let me have the room, we were sharing now. He had slept in the room on the opposite side of the hallway and so we had gone to bed separately, night after night, and at least I had never thought about changing that. Until this one night, when a thunderstorm had raged over Davenport. Afraid as I was, I had thrown myself from one side to the other, the blanket pulled over my head and had cursed myself for this childish, deeply rooted fear. I hadn't heard the door opening and hadn't noticed that I hadn't been alone anymore until Connor's silent voice had sounded. I had pulled the blanket off my face and had seen his tall figure standing by the bed. Without wasting a thought on the etiquette and without saying a word, I had raised the blanket. A silent request that he lay beside me, held me in his arms and gave me the security I needed at this moment. The same security he had given me in the past and which he hadn't denied me in this night either.

"Will you stay here after the thunderstorm is over?", I had asked and he had replied: "As long as you wish." And I hadn't sent him away ever since. But every day I was asking myself, for how long we would be able to delay the conversation about our future.

A sigh escaped me that was unfortunately heard by Corrine, who looked at me in concern. When I noticed it, I quickly put on a smile and asked her, if I could bring Caleb something to eat. She nodded, filled a plate with potatoes and rabbit ragout and I was almost relieved to leave the kitchen and go back to the dining area.

There sat Caleb behind the bar and beamed when I put the plate in front of him. For a boy of his size, he had a huge appetite and I smirked while watching him shoveling the food into his mouth.

"Do you intend to chew just once?"

Caleb raised his head with my question and grinned at me with his mouth full. Reproachfully I lifted an eyebrow whereupon he reconsidered and attended to his meal again. I grabbed underneath the counter, took a cup, went into the kitchen, and finally put the water-filled cup in front of the boy.

"Are you done with your tasks?", I asked and Caleb nodded, still chewing. But at least he swallowed his food before he looked at me again and asked:

"Is it alright if I go playing by the river with John and Carl?"

Shortly I blinked in surprise because until now it had been rare that he asked for my permission. He knew that he was free to do as he pleases, as long as he didn't get up to nonsense and behaved.

"If you come back before it gets dark and stay careful, I don't mind."

Caleb nodded satisfied and at this moment, I really felt like a mother explaining to her child, when it has to come back home. But somehow I was glad that the eleven-year-old had asked for my permission. Didn't it show that he accepted me as an authority? He could reproach me for not being his mother he had to obey, after all.

In a wave of tender affection, I reached out my hand and tousled the boy's blonde hair which he noted under protest before I made sure that the incoming guests got their meals.

In the evening I bid farewell to Corrine and Oliver, tired but satisfied and went my way back home. The sun was already setting and everything was bathed in a red twilight. The wind became colder but I kept my pace unhurried because I loved this evening atmosphere. When the homestead slowly came to rest and only a few people were walking around outside. They were all at home or the inn now, letting the day end in coziness.

When I crossed the bridge, leading over the river, my gaze fell onto Caleb and the lumberjacks' sons. Laughing and barefooted, they were standing in the water and spattered each other. Shortly I thought about reprimanding them, but I bit my tongue and didn't. They were children. They were playing and just because I had never been allowed to be so jolly, I didn't want to take it from them. So I went on again.

At home, I went directly upstairs and into the bedroom. I took off my apron and headscarf, washed my face and hands, loosened the hair bun, and began to brush my hair. Again I reminded myself, that I should have trimmed it already because by now it reached down to my bottom. But with a smirk, I remembered Connor's almost terrified expression when I had mentioned this plan to him. He loved my long hair even though I couldn't understand it really, because most of the time I wore it plaited to a braid. But someday we would have to bite the bullet and at least I was going to be glad about not being forced to spend hours doing my hair anymore. Even now I just plaited it to a loose braid over my shoulder and went downstairs again.

In the meantime, none of the one and a half men of this house had returned and so I decided to enjoy the silence around me. In the kitchen, I put on a tea, sparked a fire in the fireplace of the parlor, and sank onto an armchair with a sigh. My hands wrapped around the cup of tea and my legs cocked under my body, I watched the flames and listened to the crackling and fizzling of the logs.

After a busy day at the inn, such evenings were worth a mint. That was why I sighed quietly when I heard the front door was opened and closed. Based on the careful steps, that barely made a noise on the floor, I didn't have to ask who just came back. I saw Connor shortly passing the open door before he disappeared from my field of vision again and I heard how the hidden door to the training room in the basement was opened.

After that, it was silent for some time until the front door opened again and I heard Caleb stomping inside. His shoes landed somewhere in the hallway before he came in and sat down puffing and cross-legged in front of the fireplace.

"Tired?", I asked and disapprovingly raised an eyebrow as I saw how he dampened the floor. He was soaked from his water fight in the river and there was already a small puddle around him. He nodded.

"So you can go to bed after you wiped that up."

Caleb looked down at himself as if he hadn't been aware that he was completely soaked through and he screwed up his face.

"It is going to dry again", he mumbled but I only indicated to him silently, that he should take a cloth from the kitchen and he did. With a grim face, he wiped up the water but insisted on hugging me when he wished me a good night. I chuckled, pulled him closer, and placed a kiss on his forehead, which he wiped away with his hand immediately. Nevertheless, he couldn't suppress a grin before he left the room and I heard him stomping upstairs.

Still smirking I pulled my legs from under my body and with a quiet groan I stretched myself out like a cat. Legs straight, arms stretched up and my head put back. A hearty yawn escaped my lips which seemed to be quite amusing because I heard a chuckle behind me and as I turned around, I saw Connor standing in the door frame. He had taken off his coat, as well as his weapons and the leather leggings which used to cover his thighs. Nothing suggested that he had spent the whole day in the frontier to pursue some Assassin businesses, which I didn't even want to know more about. He looked like he had just come from his work on a field.

"So tired?" A smirk was still gracing his lips as he stepped beside my armchair, hunkered down, and grabbed my hand that was laying on the armrest. Immediately our fingers intertwined and I smirked inwardly, thinking that this simple touch had been unimaginable a few months ago.

"Very tired but I wanted to wait for you to come out of your basement before going to bed. I haven't been greeted yet." I pushed my bottom lip forward, assumed sulking.

"I am sorry." Connor squeezed my hand gently. "I just wanted to get rid of my things and come to rest."

Worried I regarded his face that was laying in deep shadows through the light of the fireplace. He appeared tired and also depressed somehow.

"Is something wrong? Did anything happen?"

Connor's gaze turned towards the fireplace while he shook his head.

"Some troublemakers in Lexington but I think they will not make any problems again."

"Are troublemakers in Lexington really your business? Don't the people have...guards who can take care of something like that?"

Connor frowned after my question and looked at me again. I already knew the answer before he even said it.

"When help is needed somewhere, it is always my business."

It was a matter of course for him to sacrifice himself for others. Whether he knew them or not. It was his strive for freedom and justice and I was admiring him for that. But did he frequently have to get into dangerous situations? Certainly, his answer would be "yes" and it seemed like I had to get used to it.

"As long as you are alright", I murmured and reached out my free hand to play with the small plaited braid at his temple and the wooden pearls on it. His eyes grew gentler and he shortly raised my hand, he was still holding in his, to his lips.

"You do not need to worry. I do not intend to leave you so soon."

My eyebrows rose. "Not so soon? Is that supposed to reassure me?"

Connor smirked and pushed himself up on the armrest until his eyes were on a level with mine.

"I do not intend it at all."

"So, never?"

"If you can bear me so long..."

I chuckled about his answer but at the same time, my heart began to race. Again I thought of our still outstanding conversation about the future. But obviously, Connor had decided on his own and I was willing to agree. I never wanted to separate from him, too. But how was this "never" supposed to look like?

Thinking about this question, I bit my lip. A typical reaction for me when I was feeling uncomfortable somehow and by now Connor knew me good enough to know that.

"What is it?", he asked and propped his arms onto the armrest to bring enough distance between us so that he could look into my eyes. It didn't help me to feel more comfortable.

"Lately, I often thought about...how we're going to live together in the future. I mean, right now it is quite...unattached."

I even wasn't able to form clear words of how I was thinking. It was incredibly hard for me to talk about it with him, even though I always had strict ideas, or better to say guidelines of how my life had to be like. Everything had changed with Connor and I didn't know if my ideas about a future together were matching his at all.

At least he looked at me frowning before I saw something like understanding in his eyes.

"You mean if we are going to marry?"

I was surprised about how directly he was saying it but I nodded slowly. Yes, I guessed this was what I had meant. But I had the feeling that I had to explain it to him.

"So, please don't get me wrong. Everything, how it is, is totally fine with me. But you know, I've grown up with particular values and traditions and they say that a man and a woman have to get married when they are living together and only after the wedding they are allowed to..." I faltered and felt my cheeks getting hot. I really couldn't start talking about _that_ with him. "You know what I mean. Anyway, I only know it like that but I can understand if a wedding isn't part of your culture."

Connor raised an eyebrow after my torrent of words had ended. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I thought..."

"That the men and women of my people are living in open relationships?"

The Assassin smirked and seemed to be amused which made me even more blush. It was embarrassing for me to notice, that I didn't know anything about his people and only had lived on stories and prejudice I had been told over the years. I really had dropped a brick.

"We get married, too even if we do not have a god in front of whom we promise each other in marriage. There is no real ceremony as you have. I once was at a wedding that followed your traditions and your religion. But we celebrate like you and we also think that marriage is a promise and a responsibility you have to nourish and respect and it can only be annulled if the woman wants it for some reason."

He paused and squeezed my hand gently again. "You see, I do understand your thoughts and if it were up to me, I would marry you. I just never considered it because I did not know how important it is to you. Furthermore, I cannot step in front of an altar and promise my loyalty to you in the name of your god. I am not a part of your religion and I never will be."

He said this last sentence without regret but as an immovable fact. Connor was right. He wasn't Christian and I'd never expected him to be baptized for me and adapt to my faith. The only question was, how important was my religion to me? Marriage was sacred and that was why I didn't want to go without the divine blessing.

But how was a marriage supposed to be, if the man and the woman didn't share the same faith?

I sighed deeply. "Maybe we should drop the topic for now."

I was too tired to further think about it. Connor cocked his head slightly but finally nodded and stood up, still holding my hand in his. Gently he pulled me on my feet and wrapped his arms around me.

"I thank you for being so honest. Sometimes I thought that you were feeling uncomfortable", he murmured but I shook my head.

"I'm not feeling uncomfortable. I...you know me. I can't change who I am. I was always told what is right and I just can't shake it off. But I think, if I try and take my time, I will..."

Connor put his hand under my chin and looked at me seriously.

"You do not have to change. You have your own values and ideas and that is right. You should not think that everything you have been taught is wrong and that you have to shake it off because I have grown up differently. It is not wrong as long as you are feeling comfortable with it."


	2. What you're saying is not always what you want to say

When I woke up the next morning, the room was already enlightened by the faint twilight of dawn and I sighed quietly because I would have loved to sleep through. To get up early was something I definitely had to get used to but at least my biological clock seemed to have adjusted to it and Connor didn't need to wake me from my deep sleep when the sun rose.

I turned my head to the other side of the bed and sighed as I saw that it was empty. Obviously, the Assassin had decided to let me sleep because I had no duties in the inn today. I could dedicate my whole time to the household and I groaned quietly with the thought of it. But the earlier I got up and started my work, the sooner I could attend to more pleasant things. So I pushed back the blanket, stood up, and padded barefooted to the closet. I changed from my nightgown into my shift, slipped into skirt and bodice, and laced up the latter while I sat down onto the chair in front of the washstand.

Right on the first day after my arrival, I had replaced my noble dresses with the simple bourgeois clothing and that meant especially that I didn't have to tie a corset anymore or rather didn't need somebody to help me if wanted to get dressed or undressed. I still had the clothes the women of the homestead had given to me before my departure to London. By now I had got more made my Ellen because, in terms of my clothes, I wasn't able to change my attitude. I liked to have some choice and I had kept my noble dresses, too. They were stored safely in a chest, together with my jewelry which would be annoying in daily life. Even though the new clothes were comfortable, I certainly would get the chance to dress up in silk and brocade again. Inwardly always a lady, how Maria liked to call it and she was right.

With quick fingers, I loosened my braid, brushed my hair, and tied it to a bun while approaching the door. I already heard voices coming from the kitchen and when I had got downstairs, I was almost knocked over by Caleb, who hurried towards the front door, a slice of bread between his teeth. He mumbled something that sounded like "good morning" while he was already disappearing behind the door. Shaking my head I watched it slamming shut. This boy never calmed down except when he was asleep. I had often tried to make him have his breakfast in peace. But like he had done today, he always snatched a slice of bread and gobbled it without taking a seat or while walking. He had a good appetite but in the face of his need for movement, it wasn't a miracle that he only was a pushover.

When I entered the kitchen, Connor was standing by the hearth with his back to me and just put the water-filled zinc jug, which I always used to brew tea in it, onto the rack over the fire. Smiling I wrapped my arms around him from behind and leaned my head against his back.

"For me?", I asked and gave a vague hint towards the jug.

"Who else in this house drinks tea? I heard that you are coming downstairs."

Connor turned around, hugged me, and bent down to me, leaning his forehead against mine. A tender gesture I was already more appreciating than any kiss. It was his own, silent way to show me his affection and regarding the fact that Connor used to avoid closeness to other people, these simple approaches were a gift.

"Could you not sleep anymore?" he asked me, without breaking the embrace.

"No, but I have enough to do today." It was me who freed herself slightly to look at him. "What are you going to do today? Do you have to go somewhere?", I asked and hoped that he would say no. It always eased my mind when I knew that he was somewhere in the homestead and not taking a wander through the frontier. I was worried about him and no matter how often he told me that he had duties as an Assassin but would be careful for my sake, it wouldn't change. At least I already knew from my own experience, how dangerous these duties could be and it was enough that I had almost lost him to injuries and their consequences once. He had scars on his back which reminded me of it every time I saw them.

So I was relieved when he shook his head.

"There is work on the Aquila I have to do and I wanted to take care of some things in the homestead", he answered calmly but with his last words and only for a split of a second, a strange smile appeared on his lips, which I wasn't able to interpret. But I didn't even ask but pulled back completely to reach past him for a towel and take the jug from the fire. Connor took a step aside so that I could put some tea leaves into a cup and brew them with the water.

Not until then he stepped to me again, pulled me closer, and gave me a peck on my lips.

"If something should happen or you are needing help, call for me. All right?"

I smirked about the care, he was always showing for me but I nodded. Connor smiled before he stepped away from me and left the kitchen. I heard him going downstairs to the basement and when I just sat down at the table, a slice of bread with ham on it in my hand, the front door closed behind him.

I spent my morning stripping the beds and washing the duvet covers and sheets. And I hated doing the laundry. The lugging of water, the rough feeling of the washboard even through the fabric and not least the feeling of saturated hands when I was finally done. Furthermore, the weather was quite summery today for mid-April. Perfect for doing and hanging out the laundry outside but sudorific during the process itself. So I leaned quietly groaning against the wall of the house, where I had placed the washtub and fanned myself with my headscarf, which I had loosened from my hair before. It was a marvel to me how other women were bearing this without blinking an eye. I really couldn't be so spoiled that I was the only one complaining about it.

_As if!_

Sighing I put on the scarf again, stood up, tucked the basked with laundry under my arm and carried it to the line, I had tied between two trees. I hung up one piece after another and while doing that, I first barely noticed Caleb, who was standing by the stables and put something into the box of Cherry, the small Shetland Pony.

"What are you doing?", I called out to him over the line and he flinched as if I had caught him.

"I...just gave Cherry some more hay", he answered and gave me a wide grin. My eyebrows arched immediately. This answer seemed a bit suspicious to me but I didn't feel like asking further questions. I had enough to do and I just hoped that he didn't get up to nonsense when Cherry was involved.

So I just gave him a warning look before I put the empty basket aside and went back to the house. I took a basket from the kitchen, hung its handle over my arm, and set off to the edge of the homestead where the farm of Prudence and Warren was located. I had met the farmer's wife shortly in the morning and she had offered to me that I could come by during the day and collect some vegetables and fresh bread. The latter was freshly baked by her every day and beside Corrine, Prudence was the best cook I knew in the homestead and a very kind, honest young woman at that. It was easy for me to talk and laugh about everything with her.

While I followed the path up to the farm, I already saw Prudence waving to me from the distance and when I finally got to her, we greeted each other warmly.

"You're just in time", the farmer's wife told me and pointed at the stone oven behind her that was already radiating the scent of freshly-baked bread.

"I thought I give you a fresh one. The vegetables are here. The first harvest this year."

We went to a table where she had laid out accurately different types of vegetables. Salad, spinach, diverse field crops I didn't know by name and some herbs, too. Prudence put them all into my basket, not without telling me thoroughly how to store them. I thanked her and we went back to the oven which she opened shortly to have a look at the bread.

It wasn't done yet and so we talked for a while. About the newest events in the homestead, about Caleb and also about Prudence's two-year-old son Hunter. With shining eyes, she told me how lively the little boy was babbling to himself and how eager he was to help his father with his work. She was certain that he was going to become a passionate farmer like Warren and we laughed about the thought.

When the bread was done, Prudence took it out of the oven and into my basket. We said goodbye to each other but when I just wanted to leave, the farmer's wife called me back again.

"You shouldn't be worried", she started and put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure that Connor and you are going to manage it somehow and like I have said to him: We are with you and I'm already looking forward to helping you."

Confused I looked at her. I had no idea what she was talking about. With what did she want to help us? And when had she talked to Connor anyway?

"What do you mean?", I expressed my question now and Prudence shortly raised an eyebrow.

"Well...Connor asked me today..." She faltered before her eyes widened and she lifted both hands. "Never mind. Forget about it."

Prudence laughed embarrassed and confused me even more. Connor asked her what? I wanted to know, but Prudence quickly said goodbye to me and claimed she had something important to do inside. She had already disappeared when I was still standing on the path, completely confused, and trying to see a reason in her words.

Slowly and thoughtfully I went back to the homestead. I thought about what Connor might have asked Prudence. He wasn't a man who revealed much about himself and gossiped and so it didn't get into my head what he could have asked her about us. At least there wasn't anything he couldn't talk to me about right now.

Shortly I thought of the conversation we'd had last night but I, in my opinion, we had dropped the "wedding topic" for now. Why should Connor talk about it with other settlers? I just didn't understand it but when I just had decided to stop thinking about it, I was disabused.

I was close to the small church when I saw Pater Timothy leaving the building. But he wasn't alone. Connor was with him and the two had an animated conversation, at least until they detected me. It wasn't so unusual that Connor was talking to the priest. He was always concerned about everyone in the homestead and even though he didn't consult him about questions of faith, I knew that he appreciated the reverend's opinion. But in the face of Prudence's strange words and the sudden breaking off of the men's conversation, I became skeptical.

I approached them slowly and when I stopped in front of them, Father Timothy gave me a friendly smile. "It's nice to see you, Lillian", he said whereupon I just nodded to him. My gaze went back and forth between him and Connor, who on his part was looking at me with an enigmatic expression. Something was wrong here and it seemed as if I was right. The Father made a short gesture towards Connor before he said: "Connor and I have just talked about your plans and I do understand what your problem is. But be assured that you can talk to me about it at any time. I already told Connor that I'm going to think about it and we certainly will find a way."

Obviously, everybody was talking about things I was supposed to know something about but it slowly dawned on me that this was about our yesterday's conversation. But there was a snag to it.

"I don't know anything about plans", I said slowly while I shifted the fully loaded basket from my right to my left arm. Father Timothy blinked in confusion and glanced at Connor who was frowning.

"Well, I thought..." The priest began to knead his hands uneasily. "I thought that the engagement is close to being in existence and that you're only thinking about the marriage ceremony."

My eyebrows leaped up. Engagement? You spoke about marriage once and were engaged immediately? Either I had missed something important or I had got the meaning of engagements wrong. My gaze slid to Connor who returned it completely calm. That was seeking clarification.

Father Timothy seemed to think that, too because he looked at each of us before he nodded to us and said: "I think, I will leave you alone. But Lillian, don't forget: You can always talk to me about your concerns."

"Thank you, Father", I murmured but he had already climbed the stairs to the church's door and disappeared inside the Lord's house. Connor and I stood silently in front of each other for a moment before the Assassin reached out his hand and took the basket from me.

"Come, I will carry it home for you", he said unnecessarily and we walked on to the manor. First I waited if he was going to explain what the conversation with the Father had meant but he remained silent. I had to suppress an annoyed sound.

"Don't you want to explain to me why everyone is assuming that we're having wedding plans?"

I looked at him, my eyebrows arched but Connor shrugged his shoulders.

"Because we do have them. We just talked about it yesterday."

"We spoke about it in general but it doesn't mean that you can start to make plans. You didn't even ask me yet if I want to marry you."

The Assassin frowned and gave me a glance from the side. "First of all, I have not made any plans. I just asked Timothy if he has a solution for your concerns about your religion. And second, I did not think that it is necessary to ask you. At least you started talking about it yesterday and you would not have done it if you would not want to marry me. Or am I wrong?"

I wanted to answer him but I didn't know what to say. He was right, after all. I shook my head anyway.

"But you have to ask me anyway. You can't walk around and tell other people until then and we also haven't made any decisions until then."

Connor stopped now and held me back with grabbing my arm as I wanted to walk on. He appeared to be confused and didn't seem to understand my point of view. I for my part didn't understand what he had been thinking. He couldn't take all my words so seriously. He neither would move the whole house if I would tell him that its closeness to the cliff made me feel dizzy sometimes. But in this case, he did.

"I want to marry you, you want to marry me. Why should I ask you, if I know the answer already? You are making it more complicated than it has to be."

Pragmatic but not wrong. But why was I making it more complicated? I didn't want him to get me a star from the sky. I just wanted a goddamn proposal. I folded my arms in front of my chest.

"Why is it complicated if I want you to ask for my hand properly? Like other men would do. At least we are not talking about some horse-trading."

Connor's eyebrows rose before he closed his eyes shortly and sighed. Was the poor man overstrained now?

His eyes opened again and he took a step towards me. The basket in one hand, he grabbed mine with the other and looked at me when he asked casually: "Lillian, do you want to marry me?"

Was he kidding me? I uttered a huff as I pulled my hand back.

"Lillian, do you like spinach?", I imitated his voice what made his expression finally slip away. I felt sorry for him, but he couldn't make it too easy for himself. "You have to be serious about it."

Connor groaned quietly and put two fingers to the root of his nose to knead it.

"I am serious about it. I would not stand here and talk to you about it if I was not. You said I should ask you if you want to marry me and ask for your hand. I did, so what are you expecting from me?"

"Well, that you make a proper proposal and don't ask so succinctly as if you're asking about the weather."

He just stared at me silently for a moment and I could still see incomprehension in his eyes. But when he wanted to grab my hand again, I pulled it back and went on towards the manor.

"Properly!", I repeated and heard him huff behind me before he followed me.

Without saying a word, he carried the basket into the kitchen and grumbled "I will be right back" before disappearing again. Slightly irritated I frowned. Did I demand so much from him? I just wanted him to propose to me properly. Not somewhere on the street with a basket full of vegetables in his hand. As if we were on a market, closing a deal. Other men also courted the women they wanted to marry and just because I had mentioned once, that I would marry him, he couldn't take it as a matter of course. It couldn't be so absurd, even though I knew that Connor wasn't an emotional person. He wasn't romantic, he was pragmatic. But it was only a proposal. He didn't have to sing me a love song and I neither expected a ring. I just didn't want to feel like something naturally.

Morose I began to put away the contents of the basket into the storage room. I felt like I'd had a serious fight with Connor even though that wasn't even the case. But it seemed like we had different ways of looking at things again. If we even weren't in agreement on our engagement, how were we supposed to line up a wedding?

Sighing I leaned against the table, took off my headscarf, and pressed the heels of my hands against my forehead.

_Maybe you just should have restrained yourself this time. He isn't like the fine gentlemen you know. Get used to it._

Why wasn't I able to be content with what I had? At least I knew that he loved me and wanted to marry me and I felt the same. But I wouldn't be surprised if Connor would change his opinion about marriage again. I had to apologize when he returned.

I believed to get this chance when I heard the front door open. Hastily I leaped from the table and went into the hallway just to see something white disappearing at the landing upstairs. "Caleb?"

The rumbling steps died away, I heard something hitting the wooden stairs before Caleb jumped downstairs and appeared at the landing. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here?" Skeptically I approached him, which made him nervously approaching me, too. He seemed to try to keep me away from the staircase when he assured me, that he only wanted to go into his room. But I knew that something was up and so I pushed myself past him and went to the staircase. There lay a bow, a quiver, and a sheet.

"Would you like to explain this to me, please?" I climbed up the few stairs and grabbed the weapons at first. It was Connor's second bow and quiver and I doubted that he had given them to the boy. The Assassin was very particular about his weapons and I didn't like that an eleven-year-old boy simply took and seemingly used them.

"I just wanted to practice. I was bored", grumbled Caleb when I picked up the sheet. At first, I didn't notice anything about it except that it was annoyingly larded with grass stains. But then my gaze fell onto a hole. Big enough to be possibly caused by an arrow.

"And as a target, you're using my washed laundry?" Irritated I held the damaged piece of fabric under his nose. "Did you think you could hide it?"

Caleb clenched his teeth. "It wasn't on purpose. I wanted to clean and repair it. You wouldn't have noticed."

"Go into your room and you will stay until I tell you something else" I ordered him to do and hang the weapons over my shoulder and the sheet over my arm. Caleb looked at me disbelievingly. I had never punished him but until now it hadn't been necessary. Now it was different.

"But why? It's only a sheet." Caleb sulked defiantly but I came down to him and pushed him towards the staircase.

"And the bow is a weapon and not a toy. You could have hurt you or someone else and I doubt that Connor allowed you to take it. So go upstairs and when he comes back, I will send him to you. You can discuss it thoroughly with him then if you want to."

Caleb took a deep breath to protest but I pointed remorselessly at the staircase whereupon he obeyed grumbling. I heard him murmur something about my alleged unfairness before his stumping steps disappeared towards his room.

Shaking my head I went through the hallway to the hidden door which lay at the backside of the staircase. I pulled the sconce which opened the door through a mechanism and climbed down the wooden stairs into the basement. There was only Connor's realm and until now I only had been here once. The Assassin used to train here which was especially shown by the battered straw doll in the middle of the room. But above all, he was storing his weapons on the other end of the basement. A small room, piled up with shelves in which tomahawks, pistols, swords, and other weapons were tidily stored. I had already had an unpleasant feeling the last time I had seen this deadly collection and also now, I tried to not look at them as I put bow and quiver back to their usual place.

I hurried up with leaving the room and going upstairs. At least I had to wash and dry the sheet a second time before I could patch it up.

In the evening I sat, in the light of a lamp, in the bed and attended to patching the sheet. Sewing and knitting was the only useful thing I had learned about housekeeping. But I could barely concentrate. Connor had returned just after sunset and was talking to Caleb for quite a while now. He hadn't been angry when I had told him about the boy's mischief but his expression had become very serious when he had promised me to resolve this problem. I doubted that he would scold the boy but I hoped that he would appeal to his conscience at least. The thought, that Caleb didn't consider that weapons were no toys and especially that he made use of Connor's arsenal, scared me. He also could have used a pistol. That only a sheet had come to harm was a miracle and I had repaired it more quickly than a person could have recovered from a wound.

I stroked over the seam with my fingertips, checking if I had worked properly enough and folded up the sheet to clear it away, together with my utensils. I had barely gone to bed again when the door opened and Connor came in.

"And?", I asked and sat up while he sat down at the edge on his side of the bed and loosened the laces of his leggings.

"He apologized and understood that he has to respect weapons and should not use them thoughtlessly. But we agreed that I will teach him archery if he wants to learn it."

My eyebrows rose in astonishment. "You even want to teach him?"

Connor took off his shoes and began to unbutton his shirt, likewise calmly. "Why not? I was much younger than he is today when I learned it."

"That was different. You had to learn it, he doesn't. Why should he learn to use a weapon?"

"It is not just about learning how to use a weapon. He has to understand it. Only when he learns the proper handling, he will be able to have the necessary respect."

He slipped the shirt off his shoulders and laid it over the bedpost before he slipped under the blanket and adjusted the pillow under his head.

I watched him skeptically which didn't escape his notice.

"It almost sounds as if you're talking about a human being", I murmured and sank back into my pillow, too. Connor smirked slightly.

"Men and weapons are not that unlike sometimes. If you are not careful, somebody gets hurt."

I turned onto my side and looked at him, lying on his back, his gaze directed to the ceiling but his eyes closed. I still had a bad feeling about my affectations today and I asked myself, what he was thinking about it. Was he angry or had he already forgotten it?

"Connor, I'm sorry about today", I began quietly whereupon he opened his eyes and turned his head towards me. "I'm really making things more complicated than they have to be sometimes."

Connor looked at me silently for a moment, before he turned onto his side, too, and moved a bit closer to me.

"I do not mind. I understand you." He smirked. "I have not thought that you would expect a proposal because I thought that it would not be important. But I spoke with Prudence again since I had no idea of what you are expecting me to do."

I raised an eyebrow. "You talked to Prudence about it?"

Connor shrugged his shoulders. "She is a woman and someone who knows a lot about emotional things. And besides that, I know that she would not laugh or even gossip."

He reached out an arm for me and gently pulled me closer to him, a faint grin on his lips.

"But why am I supposed to go down on my knees in front of you? I understand why you want flowers but why should I kneel? Do I have to surrender to you?"

Speechless I just stared at him for a moment but then I broke out laughing. Even though he was grinning, he was totally serious about his question, and honestly, I didn't know an answer. But to compare a genuflection with surrender was something I had never really thought about.

"I don't know", I said giggling. "It's somehow romantic. Basically, the man is asking the woman to marry him and maybe it's easier to ask when you are on your knees."

Connor shook his head grinning. "That is somehow humiliating. I want to be at eye level with someone when I am asking for something."

"I'm almost two heads shorter than you. We're hardly ever at eye level."

I was still giggling quietly but stopped abruptly when Connor finally pulled me to him so that we were lying chest to chest. The tips of our noses nearly touched each other and I felt his breath brushing my face as he smirked and said: "Now we are."

Yes, it seemed so but I was tempted to break the eye contact and to snuggle into his arms. Like always he was radiating a warmth that made me seek his closeness even though I was always a bit afraid of lying so close to him in bed, especially when he wasn't wearing a shirt like now. I had the sudden desire to touch him, to feel the contours of his muscles with my hands but I was afraid of what I could evoke in him. That he could expect more from me than I was willing to give him at the moment. But actually, I knew that Connor would never do that.

Even now he just lay next to me, one arm around me, and stroked gently over my back without turning his gaze away. He made me nervous and so I closed the last distance between us, laid an arm over him and buried my head against his chest. I closed my eyes and could immediately fall asleep in his arms but was completely confused when Connor moved away from me and put a hand under my chin so that I looked at him. He took a deep breath before a faint smile curled his lips.

"Do you want to marry me, Lillian?"

I blinked several times because I hadn't expected him to ask again. But even though this wasn't a usual proposal, the honesty in his voice and the feeling it caused, was enough for me.

A bright smile appeared on my face when I moved closer to him again and whispered against his lips: "Of course I do. Although I would have liked to see you kneel in front of me."

Connor chuckled. "You can wait long for that."

And our lips found each other in a long, deep kiss.


	3. Solving problems, preparations, and problems

Even though we had only told Caleb and previously indirectly Prudence and Father Timothy about our engagement, the whole homestead knew about it shortly afterward. It was Caleb who hadn't been able to keep it for himself. We had barely told him as he had run excitedly through the homestead and had told everyone he had met on his way. I had been clueless when I had been on my way to the inn and had been congratulated by several people. Everybody said how excited they were for the wedding even though Connor and I didn't even know how the ceremony alone should be conducted. But our friends were less concerned about that than we were. Corrine even insisted immediately on arranging the wedding celebration while Maria and Ellen instructed me that I had come to the tailor's shop once, to take my measurements for the wedding dress. It was heart-warming how excited they were but also absurd in an alarming way. Recently I had been concerned if it was even possible for me to marry Connor and now it seemed as if the wedding was close to being organized. We only needed someone to define a date all of a sudden.

Connor as well as I had to realize that it made no sense to stop the settlers in their euphoria and so we let them. I just hoped that we were going to keep having a say in the whole thing. For now, it was more important to me to talk with Pater Timothy, so I stayed on my seat after the Sunday Mass while the others left the church and said goodbye to the Pater at the door.

"What can I do for you, Lillian?", he asked me when he came back into the church and sat down next to me on the bench. "Is it about the wedding?"

I nodded. "I'm worried about the ceremony itself and that it won't do justice to my faith. That my marriage to Connor in its sense has no permission because he's no Christian and we can't and don't want to do a Christian ceremony because of that."

Timothy nodded seriously. "Connor already told me about it and I have thought about it, as well. I understand why you're worried and it's really difficult. I don't know about a marriage that was contracted between a Christian and a heathen. Maybe because it's not acceptable from the Church's point of view."

He paused while I felt how a lump formed in my throat. I had expected that.

"And what do you say?", I asked quietly.

"Well, from the Church's point of view, your union would be impossible. But God created the men as man and woman, so the marriage is his will and I don't believe that he would decide between the religions. Only men presume to do that. The Lord's mercy is all-encompassing and doesn't decide between Christian and heathen." He smiled. "Connor is a good man. He respects his fellow men and even though he isn't baptized, he respects our religion. When I arrived here, he gave me the money to build this church so that the settlers were able to visit it again. When his mentor died, he came to me and asked me to organize and hold his funeral. I'm certain that he wouldn't do anything that offends you and your faith and I'm certain that he will always respect your marriage and I think that is most important."

I was grateful for his words. They calmed me. During the last days, I had always been worried about it and had tried to find a way out of my concerns with my knowledge about the bible. But to hear from a priest, that he had no serious reservations, was the only thing I had needed. But there was still the question about the ceremony. It was still impossible that Father Timothy married us and that was what I mentioned now.

The Father nodded and looked straight ahead to the pulpit. "I thought about that, too", he said slowly. "Do you have any ideas on how the ceremony should be held?"

I had already talked to Connor about it but his people didn't practice a wedding ceremony like the Christian. The families of the couple came together, talked about them and when they agreed that they were suited to each other, the marriage was decided. Not quite encouraging from my point of view but we had decided to hold our ceremony. I explained it to the Father who noted my words with a smile.

"I don't think that you can do something wrong and I can bless your marriage without holding the ceremony."

He winked at me and I gave him a thankful smile. "That's all I need."

Satisfied with the process of this conversation, I said goodbye to Father Timothy and went home, with a spring in my step and in high spirits. My way led me directly to Connor who was sitting in the shadow of a tree and carved a twig, while several others lay next to him the grass.

"What's that going to be?", I asked him curiously as I approached him and he lifted his head.

"New arrows. Caleb broke some during his solo effort." Connor put the knife and the twig in his hands aside and laid an arm around me when I sank on the grass next to him. Gently he pulled me closer and pressed a kiss to my hair while I leaned against him and just enjoyed this moment of closeness. After the conversation with Father Timothy, I felt even more thrilled with the thought of marrying him. To call him my fiancé was already an indescribable feeling but just thinking about calling him my husband soon, the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, felt even better.

I pulled away from him reluctantly to look at him because I wanted to tell him something after all. "I talked to Father Timothy."

Connor cocked his head and concern flared up in his eyes until he saw the smile on my lips.

"What did he say?"

"Do you want the short version or the long one with all the religious details?" I grinned which made him smirk in turn.

"I think the short one is good enough."

Still grinning I put my hands into his nape and made his smirk even wider. Surely he could already imagine my answer but I couldn't help but announce solemnly: "He has no reservations and says that he can bless our marriage without a ceremony and that's everything I needed for my peace of mind. To know that I won't get into hell for marrying you."

Connor cocked his head with my last words but this sparkle in his eyes told me, that he was at least as happy about this answer as I was.

"That is wonderful", he said with a smile and pulled me closer to lean his forehead against mine. "When you are happy, I am happy, too."

And how happy I was. Finally, I was able to think about the wedding and enjoy it, but I hoped that he did it, too. I couldn't expect any kind of euphoria from Connor and he wouldn't be very demanding about the wedding itself. But I didn't want him to be passed over anyway because his opinion was important to me. It was our wedding, not mine.

"But we still have to talk about the ceremony", I said and pulled my head back to look at him while my hand ran through the hair in the back of his neck.

"I have not thought about it yet", Connor confessed and plaid with the braid over my shoulder. "The traditions we know are very different from each other. We have to find a way that satisfies us both."

I nodded slowly and thoughtfully pulled my bottom lip through my teeth. Maybe it was insane that we were talking about a wedding under these circumstances.

"Maybe we should think about what is most important to us", I began hesitantly. "We have long passages of conditions you have to accept with your word of consent. That you will honor your partner, love them, get through hard times with them...it is important but natural. Therefore we don't have to go through this onslaught of words if you ask me."

I smirked while Connor lifted an eyebrow. "So you do not want to make sure that I cannot search for excuses why I do not have to honor, love, and support you during our marriage?", he asked with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"If you don't, I as the woman will decide to annul the marriage and throw you out." I laughed and pulled shortly at his braid, whereupon he took my arms from his shoulders and detained my wrists in front of his chest.

"We could make it easy and search for someone to be the spokesman for the ceremony. Who holds it at his discretion because basically, the most important thing is that we are officially pronounced husband and wife, or is it not?"

"And who?"

"It should be someone who knows us well and of whom we have a high opinion."

I smirked. "Well, Mr. Faulkner is the only person who comes to my mind. But I thought I ask him to walk me down the aisle."

Robert Faulkner was the first mate on the Aquila and a typical example for an old sailor. Sometimes quite harsh in his choice of words but with a big heart. He was a loyal friend and the only person I could imagine as the spokesman for our wedding.

"Maybe he can be both as long as it isn't too much for him."

Connor chuckled with my words, stood up, and pulled me to my feet. "We should ask him."

* * *

Faulkner had been visibly moved even though he had tried to hide it. But he had promised immediately to hold our wedding ceremony and to walk me down the aisle. I was glad to know that we had such a good friend by our side and also that we had settled the most important questions. In the following days, I was able to attend to the other preparations without worrying. Although I didn't like it that Connor wanted to stay out of everything. He said that the ceremony was the only important thing to him and he trusted Corrine's and my taste regarding the celebration. And Corrine was very passionate about it. She explained to me in every detail what she had planned for the meal, which decorations Prudence wanted to prepare, and how she thought about the course of the celebration. As long as the weather allowed it, we wanted to celebrate in the bay where the Aquila lay at anchor. Patiently I listened to Corrine's explanations and made own suggestions from time to time, but basically, I had the feeling that she was in control of everything. Until now I didn't dislike any of her ideas and I was extremely grateful for her help.

But she wasn't the only one who wanted to help me. Two days after my conversation with the Father, Maria visited me in the morning and complained about me because I hadn't come to the tailor's yet. I had asked her for help with my hair, which I wanted to shorten today but first I saw myself in front of a petite black-haired woman who was looking at me indignantly, with her hands on her hips and waiting for an answer.

"To be honest, I thought I wear one of my dresses. I have enough."

Maria rolled her eyes and uttered a snort. "But they are no wedding dresses." She linked arms with me and dragged me upstairs and into the bedroom, where I had to open the chest with my dresses. I still possessed four dresses from my time in London, which my friend took out of the chest one after another and laid them onto the bed. They were all beautiful but Maria screwed up her face and shook her head. "You can't wear something at your wedding that you would also wear for a soiree."

"But when else should I wear them if not at my wedding?"

At least my question wasn't directly unheard.

With her head cocked, she grabbed one of the dresses, lifted it, and regarded it thoroughly. It was cream-colored, almost golden, with delicate blossom embroidery on the robe, lavish decorations on the bodice, and delicate laces on the neckline. I had got it as a gift a long time ago and I groaned quietly when I remembered the reason.

"This was my debutante dress. I don't know why I still have it. Certainly, it doesn't fit anymore. I was eighteen at that time."

Maria gave me a glance from the side before she grinned and held the dress in front of me. "To try it on cannot be wrong. In case of need, I can still change it a bit."

I didn't even try to protest but slipped out of bodice and skirt without saying a word, while Maria took my corset out of the chest, stepped behind me, and laced it up. She didn't make it tight but she had barely fastened the first laces when I started to gasp for air and stepped from one foot onto the other. I just wasn't used to this feeling anymore but I clenched my teeth until Maria was finished with constricting me.

"Are you alright?", she asked and laughed when I just screw up my face. She took the dress and helped me to get into it. It fitted but it felt like it was too tight around my chest.

"Oh, great. Still petite like an eighteen-years-old but at least my breasts have grown", I growled which made Maria laugh again.

"We can tie them away. I haven't tightened the corset so much."

"That means I can struggle with suffocation at my wedding."

"As long as you can say 'I do', every thing's fine."

It seemed like Maria was mightily amused but I couldn't suppress a grin, too. I stepped to the mirror by the washstand and looked at my reflection, cocking my head. I liked the sight of me and could imagine getting married in this dress. Even though the fact, that this was the dress I had worn when I had been thrown onto the marriage market seven years ago, was quite ironic. There had been some young men who had been interested in me but my uncle Richard, my warden after my parents' death, had chased them away. He had never wanted to marry me off because it would have stopped him from batten on my heritage, which he had squandered successfully over the years.

 _But how mad he would be, if he knew that I'm going to marry Connor,_ I thought and grinned. As a Templar, he would probably turn in his grave, if he knew that his well-protected money source was going to fall into the hands of an Assassin and – according to Richard's own words – a "wild mutt".

"I would say I will sew a veil for you and we're done", Maria said with a satisfied smile and I nodded. She helped me to get out of the dress and the corset and I slipped back into my regular clothes. We put the dresses back into the chest and attended to my hair afterward. It took nearly an hour until Maria had shortened it properly and a bit melancholy I looked down at the long, dark brown strands which were lying on the floor all around my chair. Some centimeters were gone and now they reached down to my shoulder blades instead of my bottom. Still long but hopefully easier to groom and to style and I noticed with satisfaction that my natural curls came to light again. As a girl, I had worn a complete mess of wild curls on my head that had become straighter over the years. In adolescence, the wild frizzy mane had given way to wavy hair that I never had to curl and I always had been proud of it. But the longer my hair had got, the straighter it had become and the curls had disappeared completely. That they were coming back consoled me for the lost length and satisfied I ran my fingers through my hair. I could definitely get married like that.

* * *

One week later, the day had come. Nervous and wringing my hands, I was standing in our bedroom and let Maria lace up the corset. Periodically I was scolded for my fidgeting but I couldn't help myself. I had been amazingly calm for the last couple of days but it had changed this morning. I felt edgy and doubted that I was going to be able to stand still for a second, not even during the wedding ceremony. Maybe I had to tell Connor that he had to hold me so that I couldn't stomp on his feet. But I certainly wouldn't meet him before.

My fiancé had spent the night in the inn because one of the settlers had said with a wide grin, that the couple wasn't allowed to share a bed in the night before the wedding yet and he had emphasized the "yet" specifically. But I didn't want to think about the wedding night since my nervousness right now was enough. Furthermore, I began to doubt that I would ever get out of this dress, so tight was the corset. The only advantage was that the dress fitted better around my chest and I began to ask myself again, what we women were enduring for our beauty. We accepted that we could suffocate. My former teacher Theresa Bonham would have said: "It's better to die in beauty than to live in ugliness" and for the first time, I was willing to doubt this sentence.

When I sat down at the washstand, so that Maria could attend to my hair, I had to use every breathing technique I knew to get at least some air. Standing upright was always easier in a corset than sitting. But I endured without complaining that Maria was taking her time to comb my newly regained curls back on the sides so that my hair was only touching my back. My shoulders and the lavish quillings on the neckline were wonderfully shown to advantage like this and even though I was quite pale, I liked the sight of my reflection. Especially when Maria draped the veil on my hair, I finally felt like a bride.

"Do you feel ready?", Maria asked and smiled at me through the mirror. I nodded, maybe a bit shaky though and smiling she helped me onto my feet. She went first into the hallway where Mr. Faulkner was already waiting for us, my bridal bouquet in his hands. The first mate was wide-eyed as he saw me, grabbed my hands, and looked me over with admiration.

"You're looking stunning, lass", he said. "If the Captain doesn't want to take you for his wife like that, I surely can try my luck, can I?" He winked at me whereupon I chuckled. He made it easy for me not to die of nervousness.

"Can we go then? Are the others waiting for us?", asked Maria and Faulkner's smile began to waver. He let my hands go, took a step back, put a hand into the back of his neck, and looked down to the floor. Something seemed to worry him and I felt my heart missing a beat.

"What is it?", I asked him and Faulkner raised his eyes to look at me remorsefully.

"Well, the others are already waiting in the bay, but...I think we have a little problem."

He stepped from one foot onto the other while I didn't stop staring at him. He had to tell me, what was wrong. Damnit. "What is it?"

"Well, I fear...I fear that Connor is missing."


	4. Is it your free will...?

"What do you mean by 'He's missing'?"

Dumbfounded I stared at Faulkner who was still nervously stepping from one foot onto the other. I had never seen him like that before but right now I was less concerned about his condition. My chest felt as if someone was tightening the corset even more and I had to concentrate on not falling into hectic breathing. I didn't notice that Maria had laid an arm around me as if she wanted to prevent me from falling over.

"Well, Caleb went to Connor's room in the inn but he wasn't there. The uniform, he wanted to wear, was on the bed but completely untouched", Faulkner explained and I saw how worried he was.

"But somebody has to know, where he is", I said hopeful but Faulkner shook his head.

"Nobody knows anything but a few men are already searching for him. Maybe he's just...having a walk."

You could hear that he didn't believe in his own words. The fact that Connor hadn't told anybody where he wanted to go, was anything but reassuring.

"Maybe he has changed his mind." The words already left my lips while the thought came to my mind. I had remembered what Connor had told me a year ago. At that time we had been on our way to England and I had asked him if there was someone at home who meant something to him. He had said that he feared that he couldn't be a good husband because of his life as an Assassin. That he wouldn't have enough time for a woman. What if he had remembered that?

"You can't believe that." Maria shook her head and Mr. Faulkner wasn't convinced of my fear either.

"Even if this is the case, the Captain wouldn't disappear just like that. He would talk to you. Something must have happened to him."

"Mr. Faulkner! That's not helpful!", Maria reprimanded the first mate while I leaned against the wall. I began to feel like I couldn't breathe. The thought that Connor's disappearing meant that something had happened to him was so much worse than the imagination that he had walked out on me. I rather could have borne the latter. But what should have happened to him? I had said goodbye to him last night as he had gone to the inn. He even hadn't...

I gasped, leaped from the wall, and pushed myself past Mr. Faulkner and Maria, who gave me surprised looks. I gathered up my skirts and hurried downstairs, crossed the hallway, and opened the hidden door to the basement. I almost ran down these stairs, too, and stopped dumbfounded in front of the table on the other side of the room. It was empty and now I felt anger boiling up. Before he had left, Connor had promised to me that he would leave his weapons here and won't touch them before our wedding day was over. I had watched him putting the hidden blade, the tomahawk, the pistol, and the bow onto this table. He must have come back sometime to take them.

"Is everything alright?", I heard Maria's voice by the staircase and a huff escaped me. Nothing was alright.

"It seemed like he decided that some fights are more important than his wedding", I said bitterly and turned away from the table to go upstairs, past Maria. There stood Mr. Faulkner and seemed to notice my change of mood with concern. While I had been full of fear before, I just felt angry and disappointed now.

"Nobody has to look for Connor. He will come back on his own, if he doesn't get shot, slashed open or whatever", I told him but couldn't prevent my tears from rising into my eyes.

I sobbed and felt how Maria wrapped her arms around me. Carefully she led me into the kitchen where I shakily sat down on the bench, while the tears ran unstoppably over my cheeks. No matter how angry and disappointed I was, I was likewise concerned. Like always when I knew that Connor was fighting somewhere, but today it was worse. Somehow I had thought that he could forget his sense of duty for just one day.

"Now calm yourself", Maria said quietly but I shook my head.

"How am I supposed to calm myself? It's our wedding day but my future husband prefers to run around, heavily armed and smashing somebody's brain in. Apart from the fact that he could be the one who gets his brain smashed in. How is that supposed to calm me? Our friends are waiting for us but he's not here." My voice had become slightly hysterical which made Maria look even more concerned.

"I'm sure that he will come soon. He would never walk out on you", she tried to calm me but it seemed like she ignored the fact, that Connor wouldn't be able to influence that if he was killed. But I tried to listen to her anyway because she was right. As long as it was possible, he would do everything to come back in time.

"But how long shall we wait? What shall we tell the others?", I asked quietly and Maria exchanged a look with Mr. Faulkner who was standing silently in the door.

"I will go down and tell them that we will delay the ceremony. They will understand it", he said and disappeared through the back door shortly afterward.

"Do you want to drink something? Is there anything I can do for you?", Maria asked me and laid a hand onto my shoulder. But I shook my head and stood up.

"I want to be alone. I will go upstairs. Will you stay and tell me if something happens?"

"Of course." Maria smiled at me and I nodded gratefully before I left the kitchen and slowly went upstairs into the bedroom. I was still trembling when I sat down at the washstand and buried my face into my hands. My feelings swayed between anger, fear, and the hope that Connor would come back and this day was going to have a good ending.

I didn't know how long I was sitting there and how often I stood up to glance out of the window, down to the path that was leading to the manor. I hoped to see Connor when he came back but the only person who came along was Mr. Faulkner. I heard him entering the house and when I listened into the hallway, I heard him talking to Maria in the kitchen. I could barely understand what he was saying but at least I understood that there was currently no sign of Connor and again I had to fight against my tears. I began to lose every hope and resignedly I loosened the veil from my hair and put it onto the washstand before I lay down onto the bed, facing the wall. I surely didn't want to sleep but I didn't feel like I could stay upright either. Therefore I ignored it as good as possible, that lying in a corset wasn't very comfortable. It was terribly stiff and pushed even more against my chest but for now, I didn't care.

I just lay there but pricked up my ears when I heard steps on the hallway and finally, how the door was opened. First I was sure that it was one of the others, who wanted to look after me. But I winced when I heard Connor saying my name. Immediately I sat up laboriously and turned into his direction. He was standing in the door, wringing his hands and looking at me. I had never seen him so nervous before but I didn't know how to react. On the one hand, I would have approached and hugged him, relieved that he was back. But on the other hand, I wanted to slap him and shout at him because he had scared me so much. I chose the middle course.

"Where. Have. You. Been?", I uttered between clenched teeth and at least tried to look at him as reproachful as I possibly could, although I was already crying again. Connor's steps were hesitant when he came to me as if he feared that I could jump up and beat the hell out of him. He came to the bed, pushed the skirt of my dress aside, and sat down next to me on the edge of the bed.

"I am sorry, I..."

"You should be sorry!", I interrupted him because I couldn't hold back my pent-up emotions anymore. "Do you know how scared I was? First I thought that you have changed your mind and run away. But when I saw that you have taken your weapons..." My gaze fell onto the hidden blade on his left arm which was resting on his knee.

"I was afraid that something happens to you because some fights were more important to you than your own wedding. You promised that you wouldn't touch your weapons until tomorrow. Just one day. You wouldn't have needed to bear it any longer. One. Goddamn. Day."

Connor endured my words silently and even when I was already finished, he just sat there and stared at his hands which he was kneading tensely. It almost drove me mad that he wasn't saying anything. I wanted him to explain himself. No matter how angry I was, I wanted to understand him so that I didn't need to be so angry anymore because I didn't want to be like that. I wanted to throw my arms around his neck because I was glad to see him unharmed. At least mostly unharmed because when Connor looked at me again, I noticed a small, bleeding wound over his eyebrow which I hadn't noticed from the distance. Or I had failed to see it on purpose.

"What happened?", I asked, now calmer and reached out my hand for his face, but he grabbed it before I touched him.

"It is nothing", he said quietly and kept my hand firmly in his. "I am sorry that I have scared you. I did not mean to. I thought I would be back in time without concerning you."

"But where have you been?"

The Assassin looked down at our hands and ran his thumb over the back of my hand, while it seemed like he didn't want to answer. But he certainly knew that I would insist on it and so he did.

"Yesterday I walked around a bit because I did not come to rest somehow." He smiled faintly. "Anyhow, I was close to the borders of the homestead when a rider from the surroundings of Concord came to me. You know that I was in Lexington recently?"

I nodded.

"There have been attacks on small villages and settlements lately. By now nobody knows who these men are but they are unscrupulous. They break into the houses, attack the inhabitants, rob them, and even kill their cattle sometimes. Such an attack happened again last night and the man, who came to me, asked me for help. I know what I have promised to you but I could not send him away."

He looked at me, almost suppliantly and I knew immediately, that I couldn't have demanded that from him. Connor couldn't forgive himself if he hadn't helped and I couldn't forgive myself if I had held him back.

"Could you help them?", I asked quietly.

"Some of the attackers were already gone when I arrived. There were only three of them but they preferred to fight instead of telling me, to whom they belong."

He squinched up his face and my gaze slid over the fine blood splatters on his robe. At least I knew the reason for his absence now, but I still felt a bit angry about it and it seemed like Connor felt it, too.

"I am sorry that I have scared you but I had to go there", he repeated and looked at me sincerely and although I struggled with the last part of his sentence, I knew that there was nothing I could reproach him for. Except for one, tiny thing maybe.

"Do you promise that next time, when you have to go somewhere, you will tell at least someone? Only because I want to know where I have to search for you if you don't come back. Nobody knew where you have been."

To my annoyance, I felt the tears running over my cheeks again as I remembered the feeling I'd had when Mr. Faulkner had said that Connor had disappeared without a trace. Now he reached out his hand and laid it gently on my wet cheek.

"As long as it is possible, I promise it." He smiled faintly. "Do you still want to marry me?"

Now my lips curled into a smile, too and I reached out my hand to free his wounded eyebrow from some strands of hair. "Only if you will bring the weapons downstairs, get ready and wait fairly presentable where you should have waited hours ago before I had a nervous breakdown because of you."

Connor chuckled. "I can do that."

He stood up but I reached out an arm for him and stopped him from following my orders immediately.

"Could you first help me to get up? The corset makes it a bit difficult."

Connor shook his head smirking, clasped my waist and lifted me gently onto my feet, but insisted on holding me a bit longer and stroking over the noticeable staves of the corset under the dress.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Because a woman has to suffer for her beauty." I grinned slightly while Connor shook his head again and pulled me closer.

"You are beautiful anyway", he murmured and made me blush.

"But you can't know that because you haven't seen me yet. You will when I come to the landing stage with Mr. Faulkner."

Connor smirked and pulled away from me. "So I will hurry up then and get ready so that I can finally see my future wife."

* * *

Shortly afterward Maria had rearranged my veil and hair and when Mr. Faulkner came and told us, that everybody was waiting again, my friend went down to the bay. I linked arms with Mr. Faulkner, the bridal bouquet firmly in my hands, and slowly we set off, too. We were silent which came at the right time for me. I was terribly nervous and scratched along the stems of the wildflowers. Suddenly Mr. Faulkner cleared his throat, stopped, and freed his arm from mine. Confused I turned towards him and looked into his serious face.

"Are you sure, that you want this, lass?", Faulkner asked me and I blinked several times, completely taken by surprise because of his question.

"Of...of course. Why should I not?"

Mr. Faulkner sighed and his gaze slid down to the bay, where you could already see our friends, waiting for us to come down this path.

"Connor is an Assassin. He is a fighter, he always was and he won't be able to change just because you marry him. He will always do everything to return to you but he will not keep his feet still for you."

"I don't expect that from him."

Faulkner looked at me again and his gaze made me even more nervous than I already was.

"Are you sure? How did you react when you saw that he had left, to do what he thought was right?"

Shortly I opened my mouth because I believed to have an answer that could refute his argument, but there was none. I had been angry. Very angry.

I lowered my eyes to the flowers in my hands and fought against my conflicting emotions. Those that wanted turn a deaf ear to Faulkner's words and those that saw the truth in them.

"I'm just afraid of losing him", I said quietly, almost whispering and heavy hands were laid onto my shoulders.

"I understand that. But you will have to learn to deal with this fear if you want to live with him. He's no settled gentleman who sits over his papers the whole day, returns to the table in the evening, and has dinner with you. He's not such a man and he never will be. You have to accept that if you want to marry him."

He paused and offered his arm to me. "You asked me to hold the ceremony but I cannot take responsibility for it if you're not certain. Because from him..." He pointed at the bay again. "I know that he's certain, even though he said that he wouldn't even need marriage to wish to live with you. So it is on you to decide. Can you accept him like he is, or do you desperately want a settled gentleman?"

The whole time Faulkner's voice was calm, honest and without any judgment and when I raised my head to look at him, his gaze was friendly and open. He was worried about us both. About Connor and me and he wanted us to do the right thing. So was it the right thing to marry Connor?

I took a few steps towards the edge of the path, which led directly along the cliff and I looked down at the bay. I could see the landing stage, which led to the Aquila and which was beautifully decorated by Prudence. I could see our friends who had come together there. But above all, I could see the figure standing upright at the end of the landing stage.

Connor, who had put on the uniform he was normally wearing as the captain of the Aquila and who had taken off all his weapons. Like I had demanded it. I had wanted it because I had thought that I could make him stop being an Assassin for one day. Not always ready to fight. Because I had thought that at least on my wedding day, I could have a normal man by my side. Normal.

Now that Mr. Faulkner had pointed it out to me, it became painfully aware to me, how stupid I had been. I had met Connor as an Assassin, I had traveled with him as an Assassin, had fallen in love with him as an Assassin. But I had wanted to marry a normal man. Just as normal as I had always learned it. With regular work which provided safety for me, mainly concerning finances. The latter wasn't necessary for me. I had Theresa's heritage that was providing my financial safety. What I needed was a man I loved and who loved me and such a man was standing down there. I was sure that he was going to be a better man to me than any rich gentleman I could have married. He was giving me so much and the only things I was giving to him, were guidelines of how he should behave and it was wrong. I was afraid of losing him but if I didn't learn to accept him, it would happen earlier than I wanted it.

I took a deep breath again and felt determination. I wanted this wedding. I wanted Connor, just like he was. Like I had met him and like I had always loved him. For him, I wanted to get rid of all my old ways of thinking, as I had already done considering my life in the homestead. Even though it was going to be hard.

"Could you take these for a moment?", I asked Faulkner all of the sudden and pushed my flowers into his hand which he took with a confused expression. "I'll be back in a minute."

I gathered up my skirts and ran back to the house. I stormed through the backdoor, opened the basement, and climbed downstairs. On the table were Connor's weapons. The pistol, the tomahawk, the bow, the hidden blade. I took the latter and ran upstairs again. When I returned to Mr. Faulkner, I was breathless but smiled widely at him, when I took the flowers from him and linked arms with him. Smirking Faulkner looked down at the bracer in my other hand.

"Strange jewelry for a bride."

"It's a strange wedding", I replied and Faulkner laughed before he patted my hand and we went on towards the bay.

The nervousness, I had felt before, had given way to a joyful excitement and unconsciously I quickened my steps, as we finally approached the bay and the broad landing stage on which all of our friends had gathered, between them even some crewmembers of the Aquila. Many happy faces were turned towards me but I only had eyes for Connor, who was standing on the other end of the landing stage and awaited us. A faint smile curled his lips but his eyes were shining even more. I could see warmth and love in them, which made me shiver pleasantly and confirmed that I just had made the right decision.

Mr. Faulkner took my hand when we reached Connor and laid it carefully into Connor's who immediately enclosed it firmly but gently. Only now he noticed the blade in my other hand and he frowned in confusion for a short moment. But I freed my hand from his grip with a gentle smile, grabbed his left wrist and tied the bracer onto his forearm, without saying a word. As I raised my head and looked at Connor, his eyes were widened and he regarded the weapon which belonged to him like the arm itself that was wearing it.

"I thought you wanted...", he began, but I shook my head.

"An Assassin is not an Assassin without his hidden blade."

Connor looked at me and his smile became brighter as he put both hands to my cheeks, stepped to me, and gently kissed my forehead.

Somebody cleared their throat. "I know that you two like each other very much, that's why we're here. But you asked me to be the spokesman for this wedding and I would appreciate it if we could start now. I have seen that Oliver has brought an excellent whiskey and I'm already looking forward to it the whole day." Mr. Faulkner winked at us grinning and amused laughter sounded from the settlers.

Connor caressed my cheek for the last time before he took my hand again and we turned towards the old sailor, who cleared his throat again.

"Well, as you all know, I'm not a good speaker and when you asked me if I could hold the ceremony, I felt a bit nervous at first, because I didn't know what to say. But you told me that I should think about something, because that this is not a normal wedding should be clear to everyone who sees the Father standing there and secretly enjoying his day off."

His words caused a new wave of amusement and Father Timothy let a "How true" sound.

"I have to confess that I still don't know what to say and that's why I thought that I will start with the reason why we are here today. The Captain here..." He made a wide gesture towards Connor. "Is, as we all know, a madman. In all those years I am sailing with him, I have experienced a lot. I have seen him escaping from a burning fort with jumping from a high cliff. I have experienced him manoeuvering the Aquila in a way that still makes my hair stand on end. So why shouldn't he be insane enough to marry?"

He made a short break, smirking and finally pointing at me.

"I don't know this lady as good as I know the captain. But a woman who has no idea of sailing and fighting but decides to slip into man's clothing nevertheless and leads me to believe that she's a sailor has to be a sly one. She smuggled herself past experienced sailors and even made me believe that she was a boy. But Lord, this boy must be the worst sailor in history."

Faulkner winked at me what I answered with a grin. I really had tricked him back then.

"Despite all your insanity, you two are like fire and water but I think that this is exactly why you are so suited to each other. How boring it would be if your partner is just the same as you are. Those differences make a life together more interesting and they complement each other. So never try to abolish them because they define who you are."

He gave me a short glance and I gave him a grateful smile in return. I had already understood what he wanted to say and unconsciously I squeezed Connor's hand with these words.

Mr. Faulkner cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders. "There's nothing more I have to say, so we should finally come to the important part. You told me that I shouldn't ask you all these long questions and if this is your wish, I will fulfill it." He smirked and looked at Connor before he continued with a formal voice.

"Is it your free will, Captain, to marry this charming lady by your side? Do you want to love her, cherish her, and have an eye on her, so that she doesn't sneak on board again, as long as it is your wish?"

Connor smirked about the last part and I had to suppress a quiet giggle, too. What a canny masterstroke of the old man.

"Yes, I do", said Connor and gave me a gentle smile.

"And is it your free will, Lillian, to marry this gentleman by your side? Do you want to love him, cherish him, and have an eye on him, so that he stays as unharmed as possible despite all his madness, as long as it is your wish?"

"I do."

"Wonderful!" Mr. Faulkner clapped his hands and his gaze wandered to a spot behind us and shortly afterward I heard the clatter of small hoofs on the wooden landing stage. A glance over my shoulder told me that they belonged to Cherry who was accompanied by a grinning Caleb. The small mare wore blossoms in her black mane and a basket on her back, out of which Caleb took a wooden box after he had reached us. Full of pride he handed the box over to me and I examined it surprised. I didn't know that something like this had been planned. I gave Connor a questioning look but he just nodded at me and so I opened the lock of the box and lifted its lid. The base was covered with a pillow on which lay a ring and a necklace that I quickly recognized as Connor's. A leather band with originally three bear claws on it. Now the claw in the middle had been replaced by a narrow, silver tube with a filigree "L" engraved on it. The ring next to the necklace was quite small, definitely made for tender female fingers, also made of silver and when I had a closer look at it, I saw that it wore an engraving, too. "R".

"L" for Lillian, "R" for Ratonhnhaké:ton, the name Connor was born with.

Totally surprised I raised my head and looked at Connor who was smiling contentedly.

"I thought we didn't want rings or other kinds of jewelry", I said but Connor grabbed into the box, still smiling and took out the ring.

"But I thought that we should have something that shows that we belong to each other and that reminds us of each other when we are separated. A ring would be impractical for me so I decided to choose this variation." He pointed at the necklace.

"And how did you know that the ring would fit me?"

"I borrowed one of your rings and gave it to Big Dave. But do not worry, it is already back in your jewel case."

Connor smirked and took the wooden box from me to hand it over to Caleb. Smiling gently, he grabbed my left hand and lifted the ring in his right. "May I?"

I nodded smiling and Connor carefully put the ring on my finger. It fitted perfectly and I was more than sure that I wouldn't take this piece of jewelry off anytime soon.

I squeezed Connor's hand gently before I turned towards Caleb and took the necklace out of the box. Connor just wanted to turn around, so that I could put the necklace on him, but I grabbed him by his arm, raised myself on tiptoes, and laid my arms over his shoulders. With quick fingers, I knotted the ends of the leather band in Connor's nape without turning my gaze away from his. He had put his hands into my waist and even when I had already put the necklace on him, I kept my hands folded in his nape and didn't even want to part from him.

Mr. Faulkner cleared his throat again and made us turn at least a part of our attention towards him, still not turning our gazes away from each other.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Allow me to introduce: Mr. and Mrs. Connor Kenway. Captain, you may kiss the bride."

Connor pulled me closer but he didn't kiss me. Instead, he frowned and gave me a questioning look. "Kenway?"

I cocked my head because I didn't understand his question. "Yes, of course. As your wife I'm bearing your surname, or don't you agree with that?"

"I just thought that...among my people, the man joins the woman's clan after the wedding. So theoretically it would mean that I'm bearing your surname."

I squinched up my face. "Connor Jarvis? Are you sure that you want to bear the surname of a Templar?"

Connor chuckled. "My father was a Templar and I do not care about my surname."

"So...if you say so...I would love to call myself Kenway if you don't mind. It also suits you better."

"It would be an honor, Mrs. Kenway", Connor smirked and finally pulled me closer to capture my lips with his.

The settlers broke into jubilation and applauded while I didn't notice anything anymore but only concentrated on the feeling of happiness that was running through my whole body.


	5. When words aren't necessary

Shortly afterward the wedding celebration was in full swing. Almost all tables and chairs from the inn had been brought to the bay and were arranged to one big table where everybody found a seat at. We sat together like one family and waited excitedly for the suckling pig to get ready after Oliver had already hung it over the fire in the morning. In the meantime, our friends insisted on giving diverse gifts to Connor and me.

From his crew and Mr. Faulkner, Connor got a new telescope, so that he always found his way back home. From Prudence and Corrine, I got a leather-covered book in which they had written down different, detailed recipes for me so that I couldn't dodge cooking anymore and also couldn't do anything wrong. Apparently.

The carpenter Lance had built a rocking chair for us and Ellen and Maria had sewed a blanket out of rabbit fur which they had got from Myriam. But the most beautiful gift came from Caleb.

He had taken a slice of wood, that had still the bark and the visible annual rings on it and had lavishly incised our names into it. Connor's, mine, his, and even Cherry's.

"I wanted to thank you for letting us be with you", he explained sheepishly after I had speechlessly stroked over the wood. Tears of emotion rose into my eyes and I pulled the blonde boy into an embrace and he returned it immediately.

"You don't need to thank us", I said quietly, held him a bit away from me, and stroked over his cheek. "We're very happy that you are with us."

Connor reached out his hand, too, and tousled the boy's hair, which Caleb only allowed under protest. Nevertheless, I believed to see a suspicious shine in his eyes.

When the meal was finally ready, we all moved a bit closer together while everyone got their fair share of the meat and the side dished, which Corrine had freshly prepared. Even during the meal, there was much chattering and laughter and I asked myself if I had ever felt so comfortable among other people. I had been on many feasts in the past. Weddings, birthdays, baptisms, or feasts which had been given just because the organizer had felt like it. They all had had their charm but there had never been such a pleasant atmosphere and I couldn't do anything else but smile happily when I looked into the cheerful faces of our friends. Even Connor, who normally wasn't someone who enjoyed larger companies, wore a satisfied but reserved smile on his face.

After the meal, some of the sailors, who hadn't had too many glasses of whiskey, made their ways to their instruments, and shortly afterward, the bay was filled with cheerful sounds and the shouts of the settlers, that bride and groom should appear for the wedding dance. Grinning I glanced at Connor who only squinched up his face sorrowfully. I knew exactly that he could dance but it didn't belong to his favorite activities.

"One dance?" Questioningly I raised a finger and pushed my bottom lip forward in a begging manner. Connor's gaze wasn't very enthusiastic but finally, he sighed deeply, stood up, and grabbed my hand.

"One!", he emphasized as he led me to the free area close to the small band.

They began to play a waltz as Connor put his hand on my waist and we started to dance to the rhythm of the music. He was a good dancer, even though he and the other men had been more or less forced to learn it from the women in the homestead. But he was a quick learner, light-footed, controlled, and concentrated. The latter made him look more serious than it was necessary. Smirking I took my hand from his shoulder and ran my thumb over the corner of his mouth.

"It's our wedding, we are surrounded by our friends, had a good meal and now you're heaving the honor to dance with your newly-wedded wife. Do I get a smile at least? Just a tiny one?" I lifted my hand and held the thumb and index finger close to each other. The corners of Connor's mouth rose as he shook his head slightly.

"You are unbearable sometimes", he grumbled, what I just noted with a grin.

By now, other couples had come to the improvised dance floor and when the music changed, Connor stopped, laid both hands on my waist, and murmured: "Am I dismissed?"

I chuckled and hand in hand we went back to the table where we were stopped by Big Dave, Davenport's blacksmith.

"May I ask for the honor to dance with the bride?", he asked smirking and as soon as Connor had nodded, Dave had grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the dance floor. I laughed as he laid his large hand on my waist and began to whirl me around to the rhythm of a fast polka. Soon I noticed that a corset wasn't made for this kind of dance but I didn't care. We were several couples on the dance floor and over and over again the men changed their partner so that I regularly danced with someone else. It was a joyful company that quickly made me lose my breath. Sometime I could only apologize and gasping, I dragged myself back to Connor.

He sat silently at the table, his elbows propped up, the hands folded and placed against his lips while he listened to the conversation of Dr. White, Lance, and Father Timothy. When he saw me coming nearer, he loosened his posture and a warm smile appeared on his lips that made my heart skip a beat. Still breathless I sank on the chair next to him, grabbed my glass, filled it with fresh water, and emptied it in slow gulps. Slowly my breathing returned to normal again and I closed my eyes for a moment, as a cool breeze came from the sea. The sun was already setting and the former red sky got darker. The day drew to a close and I was almost sad about it.

A light pull at my hair made me open my eyes and I looked at Connor who was holding my veil in his hand, a smirk on his lips.

"You almost lost it."

I chuckled and took the delicate piece of lace that had decorated my head, but it didn't survive the polka. As well as my hairstyle, which had been done by Maria with so much effort. Some of the pinned strands had loosened and fell into my face so that I had been forced to push them behind my ear during the dance. Now they were a welcomed occupation for Connor who let them slide through his fingers, or pulled gently at them, only to watch in fascination, how they jumped back into their former, curly form.

"Do you enjoy yourself?", I asked and propped my head onto my hand while I watched Connor's playing around. But he didn't let himself be swayed but just smirked without stopping his activity. I clicked my tongue, grabbed his hand, stood up, and pulled him onto his feet. He looked at me in confusion but I just led him away from the table, past our dancing friends, over the landing stage, and onto the Aquila, where I sat down on the stairs to the wheel and pulled him next to me.

Instantly he wrapped an arm around me and I leaned my head against his shoulder. We were surrounded by a wonderful silence because the music and voices were only a quiet sound in the background, drowned out by the gentle roaring of the sea that lightly rocked the ship back and forth.

"Do you not want to be with the others?", Connor murmured into my hair but I shook my head.

"I thought we could allow ourselves a break." I knew that Connor liked to be reserved in company and maybe even didn't enjoy them. Since I had also felt the need to have a break, I had brought him here. Away from the others but still close enough to go back again, if we felt like it. Right now I just wanted to enjoy his closeness and I sighed quietly as he pulled me closer and I could wrap my arms around his torso. With the disappearance of the sun, the air had become cooler but in Connor's arms, it was still pleasantly warm.

"Was everything like you imagined it?"

Connor's question made me frown shortly. "Yes, but what about you?" I raised my head to look at him. "It isn't only my wedding after all."

Connor's hand stroked over my cheek and played with one of my curls before he said: "The only thing I needed for this day sits right next to me and looks at me as if she is expecting something bad."

Motionless I stared at him before I chuckled and lowered my eyes, almost embarrassed. Basically, I couldn't have expected a different answer. Connor hadn't been very demanding about our wedding, except for the ceremony itself.

Gently I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer for a kiss. Connor buried his right hand into my hair while the left rested on my back. Suddenly I felt a prickle that spread through my whole body and that I had never felt before. It sent a shiver down my spine, especially as Connor's hand disappeared from my hair and his fingertips brushed over my nape, my neck, and finally my collar bone. I sighed against his lips and had to break the kiss to calm my fickle breathing. Connor leaned his forehead against my mine, totally calm but I thought that his breathing was heavier than before, too.

"Shall we go?", I asked quietly and felt how I blushed. In the faint light of the lamp next to the cabin's door, his face lay partly in the shadows but I saw the short insecurity in his eyes. But it quickly disappeared again and when he stood up, he pulled me gently onto my feet. Silently we intertwined our fingers and left the Aquila. In the meantime, most of the settlers had sat down again, chattered, laughed, and drank. We stayed at a distance from their company when we headed towards the manor and I didn't know if they even noticed that we were leaving. But after all, it was on the groom and the bride to decide when they wanted to leave their wedding and so I wasn't concerned about the etiquette. I also didn't need to worry about Caleb because he would go with Terry, Diana, and their son today. So Connor and I were undisturbed.

When we reached the house, I instantly wanted to go upstairs but Connor held me back.

"Would you mind, if I..." He hesitated and looked at some spot on the wall, over my shoulder.

"...if I go downstairs. I want to...put the weapons away."

Confused I frowned while he still couldn't look at me. Was he nervous or didn't he want to...? I was insecure but nodded hesitantly.

"No, do it", I said my voice nothing more than a whisper. I stayed where I was as Connor went down the hallway and I heard the basement's door and his steps on the stairs shortly afterward.

Slowly I climbed upstairs and as I went into the bedroom, I instantly sat down at the washstand. My hands folded in my lap, I looked into my eyes through the mirror and tried to hold back the nervousness that was spreading inside of me. I didn't even know if it was an anxious or cheerful kind of nervousness. It was just there because Connor's reaction had completely unsettled me. When I had lain in his arms, I had felt the desire to be finally alone with him. But did he want it, too?

I took a deep breath before I began to loosen the pins from my hair with shaking hands. I took more time with that than it was necessary but I needed something to occupy myself. When I had freed my hair from every kind of jewelry, I grabbed the brush and pulled it through my curls with slow movements. I felt how I became a bit calmer at least but it ended abruptly when I heard Connor's steps on the staircase.

They were slow as if he was delaying his way here and they completely died away for a moment, as he reached the closed door. I stopped brushing my hair and listened into the silence, thinking that he certainly could hear my heartbeat. The door opened agonizingly slow and Connor stepped in. He had taken off his bracer and coat, his gaze slid over my loose hair and finally stopped on my face. I put the brush back onto the washstand, stood up, and approached him, without taking my eyes away from his.

As I stopped in front of Connor, I took his hands into mine, stretched, and kissed him tenderly. It was also a careful kiss as if our lips were meeting for the first time. But it brought back this feeling that had left me minutes ago. The insecurity was still there, but the nervousness was almost entirely gone.

"I love you, Connor", I whispered against his lips and a smile flitted across his face.

"I love you, too, Lillian." He freed his hands from my grip and laid them on my waist, pulled me closer and we kissed again. But this time the kiss was less cautious. It was more sensual, demanding and a sigh escaped me as Connor broke the kiss and his lips brushed over my cheek, my chin and finally the crook of my neck. With closed eyes, I leaned my head aside when he stroked my hair from my shoulders and kissed gently along my neck. All of his touches called back this prickle, I had felt on the Aquila, but this time it was much stronger.

While Connor was caressing my neck, I let my hands roam over his chest and began to open his shirt. Slowly, button after button. I was surprised how calm and determined my hands were because my eyes were still closed. But I opened them as I pushed the shirt from Connor's shoulders and he pulled away from me. His breathing was irregular, almost trembling, as I placed my hands onto his bare chest and ran my fingertips carefully over his bronze-colored skin. It wasn't the first time that I was touching him, but it was the first time that I did it without hesitation. My fingertips felt every centimeter of his skin, every muscle group, from his arm, to his shoulders, over the chest, and finally his belly. Connor stood motionless, his eyes closed. But he took a hissing breath when my hand stopped over the uneven scar on his right side. A wooden stake had bored into his flesh some years ago. It had happened when he had chased a Templar called Charles Lee through a scaffolding that had collapsed. The wound had taken a lot of time to heal and the scar proved that.

Connor grabbed my wrist. "Please not, Lillian. You do not have to do this to yourself", he said in a husky voice but I shook my head with determination.

"These scars belong to you. Each one of them. This one..." I freed my hand from his grip and touched the scar on his side again. "...and these..." My fingers brushed the different small scars on his torso. "...and also these." Now my hand had moved to his back and I stroked lightly over the four bumps which weren't this old. Four strokes with a whip, only because a Templar had wanted to know from Connor, where a particular Piece of Eden was and the resulting injuries had almost caused Connor's death by a fever.

"They all belong to you and I love everything about you."

Silently Connor looked deeply into my eyes before he pulled me against him again and caught my lips in a passionate kiss. He buried his hand into my hair while the other slid over my side. Obviously searching for a way to open my dress and I had to chuckle as he uttered a frustrated growl when he didn't find it.

"Welcome to the complicated world of a lady", I said laughing and led his hands to my waist, where the robe of my dress was pinned at the bodice. I noticed in amusement, how confused he was to feel the small metal stays which held everything in place. I assisted him with loosening them, took off the robe, and loosened the bodice that was pinned at the corset. Connor found and loosened the laces of the skirt on his own but his eyebrows arched as he saw, that I was wearing another skirt and a crinoline beneath it.

"Why...that must last an eternity to put all these on." He reached out his hand and stroked over the bracings of the crinoline. "Is it not uncomfortable?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "You get used to it" I smirked and took off the crinoline and its overskirt. I only wore my shift and the corset beneath it and that seemed to be a relief to Connor. I laughed inwardly. To unwrap me obviously wasn't as easy as he had hoped it would be.

At least he smirked as he noticed my amused gaze and pulled me closer to kiss me again. I totally lost myself in the kiss and uttered a surprised gasp, when the tightness of the corset vanished all of the sudden and Connor pulled it from my body to drop it to the floor. How had he...?

He didn't give me the opportunity to think further because he lifted me onto his arms without warning and carried me to the bed where he laid me down gently. My heart fell into an irregular rhythm as he bent over me and covered my neck with kisses as he had done before. Agonizingly slow, his lips made their way from the hollow underneath my ear to my shoulders, my collar bone, and finally to my décolleté, while his hands ran over my sides to my hips.

Even though my breathing wasn't under my control anymore, I enjoyed it and was almost disappointed when he lifted his head again and looked into my eyes. His gaze was insecure.

"May I?", he asked and I understood what he meant by it. He wanted to know if he was allowed to free me from my last piece of clothing. My insecurity came back but I nodded shakily.

Connor's lips gently returned to mine as he pushed the skirt of my shift up and pulled it over my head with my assistance. I was now lying in front of him like God had made me and all my sense of shame came back in an instant, together with the fear that he could dislike what he saw. But instead of sitting up to look me over, as I had almost expected it, Connor just stayed and kept looking into my eyes. A loving smile appeared on his lips when he noticed my fear. He bent down and leaned his forehead against mine.

"Lillian, I have to confess something to you", he said quietly and I blinked in confusion. What was that about?

"Lillian, I...have never been with a woman before."

He lifted his head and looked at me as if he wanted to catch my reaction. I was surprised at first.

"But why?"

Connor chuckled. "You know me. I do not let anyone come closer to me and there has never been a woman who made me feel such a desire."

He grabbed one of my strands of hair and let it slide through his fingers, while he was still looking at me. I didn't need to ask for a reason when I saw the love in his eyes. There had never been a woman, except for me. This thought made my heart beat faster. It was a feeling of happiness that was driving away all the fear and shame. I smiled and caressed his cheek.

"So that comes to your mind when I'm lying naked in front of you?"

He smirked. "It needed to be said."

"Can we stop talking then?"

Another chuckle before his lips met mine again. We lost ourselves in a passionate kiss while Connor let his hand roam over my neck, follow my collar bone, and finally laid it carefully and gently over my breast. I gasped with the touch and the gasp became a quiet moan, as Connor replaced his hand with his lips and caressed the sensitive peak of my breast. He stopped for a moment after my reaction but then his fingers brushed one breast while his lips touched the other again.

I hadn't expected that he could cause such emotions inside of me with it. A prickle that spread everywhere, quickened my breath, and made me close my eyes in pleasure at the same time. Connor's hands brushed my breasts for the last time before his lips wandered further down my body. They stroked over the sensitive skin of my belly and I took a deep breath as they kissed the fine scar over my navel. The memory of the fact that I hadn't been allowed to experience this. I would have died of a bullet wound if Connor hadn't saved me with a Piece of Eden, the Shroud. That was the only reason why I was allowed to enjoy his tender touches now, which moved up my belly and finally stopped at my lips.

Now I was the one who let her hands roam. But I had a certain aim. With my fingertips, I brushed along the waistband of his trousers and coaxed a quiet moan of him with this touch alone. One gaze, a gentle kiss, and Connor took off the last piece of his clothing. His hands slid to my hips and he pulled away from my lips.

"Will I hurt you?", he asked in a husky voice.

I nodded slowly. "But it will be alright."

I buried my hands in his nape and pulled him down for a kiss. But this kiss was soon over, as Connor entered me carefully. A short, sharp pain made me wince and I bit onto my lip to suppress a gasp. I tensed unintentionally and Connor stayed motionless, his worried gaze directed at my face. Trembling I breathed in and tried to relax. The pain was already gone and had given way to an unfamiliar but not unpleasant feeling.

I caught Connor's gaze and smiled before I wrapped my legs around his hip and made him lower his pelvis. We both moaned and my hands wandered from Connor's nape to his back, as he began to move slowly. He was careful as if he was afraid of hurting me again, but he didn't.

As I began to move with him and we found a mutual rhythm, it simply was an indescribable feeling. To feel him, his skin on mine, and under my fingertips. His hands stroking along my hips. His lips caressing my neck and the way he was looking at me from time to time. Shrouded by his desire but full of love at the same time. All these different feelings gathered to one single stream of emotions that flowed through me after a short time. My quiet scream was muffled by Connor's lips before he also found his release with a guttural moan.

We remained in a tight embrace and enjoyed this feeling of closeness and affection which we certainly didn't feel for the last time tonight.


	6. Insolences and displeasure

When I woke up the next morning, I found myself in front of a sleeping Connor. His relaxed face turned towards me, he was lying on his belly and had bedded his head on his arms, while some dark strands of his hair had fallen into his face. A sight that made me smile dreamily. I had married this man and was allowed to wake up with him every morning from now on, for the rest of our life. How had I earned this luck?

Slowly I reached out my hand and gently brushed the hair from Connor's face. The corners of his mouth twitched and his eyelids fluttered for a moment but then he remained still. I smirked. Normally Connor was a light sleeper. Even the tiniest sound woke him up and also now, I was entirely sure that my touch had wakened him at the latest and that he pretended to be asleep now.

_If you want to play this game..._

A faint grin curled my lips as I moved closer to him, sat up slightly, and ran my fingertips over his arm. Over his forearm, up to his biceps, that twitched shortly under the touch and I asked myself if Connor was ticklish. So I let my fingertips slide down his arm before stroking them up to his shoulder again. Another twitch. I had to suppress a chuckle as I saw how Connor pinched his lips for a second. He was awake but still tried to convince me of the opposite. But that was fine with me.

I finally sat up and let both hands stroke over his shoulders and into his nape where I tickled his hairline shortly before my hands slid downwards and pushed the blanket down to his hips. I noticed with satisfaction how a shiver ran through Connor's body but he still kept his eyes closed. I bent down and placed a kiss into his nape, then one on each shoulder blade before I kissed a trail down his back, but stopped over his scars. My fingertips touched the light bumps and followed their way from his right shoulder blade, diagonally down to his left hip. My lips followed this path but I stopped between each of my gentle kisses and waited for a reaction. He already hadn't wanted me to touch his scars yesterday.

But Connor stayed calm even though I felt exactly that his breath had quickened. I stopped my caresses and kissed his nape again while my hands stroked along his sides. I looked into his face, as they disappeared underneath the blanket and stopped on his hipbone. Connor took a deep breath and a tensed expression appeared on his face. Did he still not want to give up his charade? My hands moved up again, teasingly slow and my fingertips drew small circles that found their way back to his hips and finally his buttocks.

"What is that supposed to be once you are finished?", Connor mumbled, his face still half-buried inside his arms, eyes closed.

"What do you mean?" My fingertips stroked lightly over his bottom, over his hipbone and sides again and I smiled innocently, as Connor opened his brown eyes. There was a sparkle in them that made me grin mischievously.

While he was just looking at me, I still let my hands roam over his backside. But before I was able to react, Connor had turned to his side, grabbed my waist, and pulled me next to him onto the mattress. A surprised sound escaped my lips when he suddenly lay over me and grinned at me.

"Why do you not let my sleep?", he asked and got his revenge for my wake-up call while stroking over my sides.

"You didn't sleep anymore." I laughed and squealed quietly as he pinched my waist.

"But you cannot claim that you did not take advantage of it."

His comment made me grin and I fluttered my eyelashes innocently. "But you didn't stop me either."

A smirk, before Connor bent down and kissed my lips. Instantly I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me. The time could stop now and I wouldn't mind because I wanted to savor every single second in his arms. I never wanted to part from him again and leave this bed because being with him was too beautiful.

That was why I uttered a protestant sound when Connor broke the kiss and put his lips to my forehead instead. "We should get up", he murmured and earned an almost shocked gaze for it.

"No!", I replied almost defiantly and kept his nape in a firm embrace.

Connor smirked. "The sun is up already. I am sure it is midday by now."

"So what?", I grumbled but just made Connor cock his head and look at me in amusement.

"So we shall stay here in bed when Caleb comes home? Are you sure?"

Damn it. I totally had forgotten about Caleb. First of all, we couldn't leave him to his own devices and I also doubted that he would not expect us to be up already when he came home. He neither needed to find us naked in bed.

"Fine", I grumbled and Connor stole another kiss from me before he pulled away gently, pushed the blanket back, and stood up. Still grumbling I snuggled up in his pillow and watched him taking fresh clothes from the closet and putting them on. Such a shame.

With a theatrical sigh, I stood up, too while Connor was already slipping into his shoes and he chuckled, as I passed him, markedly slowly and hip-wiggling before I also opened the closet and slipped into a shift. He stepped behind me, put his hands to my hips, and gave a gentle kiss to my hair.

"I will make breakfast", he told me before he left the room.

_Reality, we're back._

* * *

The reality had taken over control very soon because as much as I would like it sometimes: Our duties and responsibilities didn't spare us. I still had to run a household, worked in the inn and Connor was more and more frequently in the frontier or Boston. He hoped to find out who was responsible for the attacks on the small villages, but nothing had happened since the night before our wedding. Connor came back empty-handed every night and I felt how frustrated he was because of it. I tried to cheer him up while telling him that the gang might have left already, but it only worked slightly.

One week later he luckily stopped to think about the incidents. His mood got better, too and it wasn't only to my advantage. Connor and Caleb often met in front of the stable and built his own bow for the boy out of a piece of wood. Caleb was excited about it and even though I was glad for him, I still didn't feel well with the thought, that he was supposed to learn the handling of this weapon. But I couldn't do anything else but trusting Connor's opinion and so I watched them with a laughing and a crying eye.

They needed four days until the bow was finished and so, one morning, I heard Caleb's excited voice as I went downstairs to the kitchen. There the two of them sat at the table, had pushed their dishes aside, and regarded their work that was lying diagonally on the table. I squinched up my face but put on a neutral face as Caleb beamed at me.

"Look, Lillian!" He pointed at the bow. "Isn't it great? It's stable like Connor's. But it fits better to my size and Connor says that I will be a really good bowman soon."

"If you practice", the Assassin added with a smirk while I grabbed past them for their dishes.

"Great", was my half-hearted reply and I dropped the dishes into the dishpan. "But I would appreciate it if you wouldn't spread your things and especially weapons all over the kitchen table."

Caleb took his bow from the table grumbling, when I turned around, while Connor gave me a frowning look. But no matter how much acceptance and sympathy I wanted to summon up, the collection of weapons in the basement was enough for me. I didn't need them in the kitchen, too. But as I saw how Caleb plucked at the bowstring with a grim expression, my expression became lenient again. "I'm sure, if you try hard, you're going to shoot more game than Connor and Myriam together."

My words brought back the beaming into Caleb's face and he excitedly leaped onto his feet.

"Can we go then?", he asked Connor and he nodded shortly.

"Go ahead. I will come in a minute."

Caleb hung the bow over his shoulder and had disappeared through the back door shortly afterward, without saying goodbye.

"Where do you want to go?", I asked in confusion while Connor was still sitting at the table and looked at me.

"Into the forest, down the river. There is a small clearing where I wanted to start practicing with him."

"Practicing on what?"

"On trees." Connor raised an eyebrow smirking. "Or did you think I would let him shoot at everything that moves? After all, I am going to go into the forest with him on purpose, so that nobody gets harmed."

"Of course not", I grumbled and put the water-filled zinc jug onto the fire. Of course, I hadn't expected that Connor would let Caleb shoot at living creatures. At least not yet. If Caleb wanted to go hunting sometime, I would let him. I just hoped that this hunt was restricted to animals then and that the boy wasn't forced to use the weapon against men like Connor was.

He had stood up by now and pulled me against him. "You still do not want me to teach him, do you not?", he asked and I uttered a deep sigh.

"You know my opinion about that. It's enough that one person in this house is running around armed." I put a hand on the tomahawk on his side and my fingertips ran over the cold metal. "He admires you and what happens after he had learned archery? Will he borrow your hidden blade then and wants to become an Assassin?"

Connor grabbed my hands and led them to his chest, away from his belt.

"Don't think about it", he said seriously. "I will take care of him."

I didn't know if this was a satisfying answer regarding my concerns, but I nodded anyway and Connor kissed my forehead. "We will be back in the afternoon, alright?"

I nodded again and shortly afterward, the door had closed behind Connor.

After I'd had breakfast and had tidied up the kitchen, I left the house, too, and went to the inn. Like always, the homestead was full of life already and I smiled widely as I met Maria on her way to Ellen's.

"Good morning", I greeted her and my friend hugged me as we reached each other.

"Good morning, Mrs. Kenway. How's the married life going?"

She always asked me this question when we met, always grinning. I wasn't sure what she wanted to achieve with it or which answer she was expecting. I just rolled my eyes laughing and answered like always: "It's liveable."

"Oh, I believe that," Maria smirked. "By the way, I want to drive to Boston tomorrow. I have to collect some fabrics and thought I ask if I could borrow your carriage. Maybe you want to come with me? It's been a while since you have been outside Davenport."

She cocked her head and gave me a questioning look. Since our arrival in the Homestead, I had visited Boston only once and the thought of strolling through the city again was more than appealing.

"Yes, sure", I answered and smiled. "But I have to check if the carriage is still roadworthy. It's been inside the barn for an eternity. But I think we can manage that."

Maria clapped her hands. "Well then." She hugged me. "Just in case we don't see each other again, I will come by tomorrow morning. Alright?"

I nodded smiling and we said goodbye to each other.

My way led me further to the inn and when I entered, I was directly greeted by Corrine, who was just wiping the tables.

"Everybody's gone already?", I asked as my gaze roamed through the empty room. Corrine nodded smirking. "You missed the first run, sweetheart. But you can do the dishes if you want to."

A theatrical sigh escaped my lips before I went into the kitchen and filled a big pot with water, heated it, and poured it into a zinc tub. I attended to the dishes with enthusiasm and got the innkeeper's support shortly afterward. Chatting we worked hand in hand until we heard that the inn was entered. "I'll go", I told Corrine, put the dishcloth aside, and wiped my hands dry at my apron, while I went to the dining area. There stood a group of five men, all of them looking around in the room. I had never seen them here before but wasn't surprised. Strangers, who were on their journey through to Boston or another town in the surrounding area, came here often and these men looked like they already had a long journey behind them. Their boots were dirty as well as their coats. The bags over their shoulders were bulging and they carried weapons with them. Pistols, rifles, and daggers. I couldn't guess if they were peacefully minded or if you had to be afraid of them but for now, I had to treat them with hospitality anyway.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?", I asked and stopped at the bar. Five pairs of eyes turned to me immediately and a young man stepped forward, certainly their leader, regarding his confident appearance. His leather coat slapped against the legs of his boots as he approached me with a bright smile and took off his hat.

"Well, I hope so, pretty lady." He stopped in front of me and looked me over, while I tried to keep my smile upright. I was used to guests who came from outside the homestead and let their offensive charm– sometimes with more, sometimes with less charm – pour down on me. I always tried to smile it away with polite ignorance. Like I did now, as the man bowed his head in apparent deference and pointed at his companions.

"My friends and I are on the journey through. It's early in the day but we traveled the whole night and hoped that we could get rooms here."

My gaze wandered to the other men who were only standing silently in the middle of the room and stared back. Who travels through the frontier at night? Not so long ago there had been wolves and bears in the direct environment of the homestead and only a few miles westwards you could still meet cougars and lynxes. Such meetings weren't desirable in the daytime and they certainly weren't desirable at night. No matter if you were armed or not. But what did I know? Probably Connor would still wander through the forests at night, too.

"I will go and ask the innkeeper", I said and went back into the kitchen were Corrine was just clearing the dishes away.

"There are five gentlemen asking for accommodation."

The innkeeper lifted her head and nodded slowly. "For how long?"

"They say, they have been on the road the whole night. Because they're on their journey through, I guess until tomorrow at the latest."

Corrine wiped her hands at her apron and adjusted her bonnet before she went past me into the dining area. I followed her closely.

"So the gentlemen asked for rooms? Until tomorrow?", she asked friendly and the man, I had already talked to, nodded.

"We will set off tomorrow. But we thought we allow ourselves a day of relaxation and I think we're in the right place for that." His gaze slid to me and his smile became wider. That was going to be an interesting day.

"Of course." Corrine's kindness was unwavering. "Unfortunately I can only offer you bread, ham, and cheese at the moment. A warm meal will be served in the evening."

"We don't mind." The man nodded at her. "We're satisfied when we can get a good Ale."

"That isn't possible at the moment either but I would like to bring you something to eat, gentlemen. Lillian, would you prepare the rooms?"

I nodded and was relieved as I could leave the dining area. This blunt wannabe charm was just too antipathetic to me and I hoped, that I didn't need to bare it too often and for too long. I twisted the wedding ring on my finger while going upstairs to the guestrooms and smirked.

_Maybe I only have to show this and I will have my peace and quiet._

I took the duvet covers and sheets out of a cupboard in the hallway and began to make the beds in each room. I opened the windows, plumped up the pillows and blankets, and checked if the rooms were clean in general. Corrine put a high value on keeping the rooms as clean as possible for the guests and I was more than willing to follow this maxim. I probably wouldn't want to sleep in a dirty dive either.

When I was finished, I went back into the dining area and led the five men, who had eaten something by now, to their rooms. Their leader was the last I led to his door and after he had stepped inside and had had a short look around, he turned around and made an inviting gesture towards the room.

"I wouldn't be averse to having some company. Resting together is always more pleasant."

My eyebrows arched. I had thought he was just blunt, but now he was impudent.

"Then you are in the wrong establishment", I replied sharply and only made him grin.

"Oh, I wouldn't have paid but just hoped for voluntariness."

"You can wait long for that. I wish you a good rest." I turned away and went back to the staircase, while I heard him laughing behind me and calling: "Just in case that you change your mind, you know where to find me. Name's Nathan, by the way."

I just hoped that he and his friends were going to sleep for the rest of the day and that I wouldn't see them again before their departure.

The five gentlemen didn't show up for now and so I could do my work without disturbances. I swept the dining area, helped to make the beverage barrels ready for the evening, and also prepared the vegetables for the stew which Corrine wanted to cook later on. Everything was like always and as the inn filled with settlers and sailors, who wanted to end the day here in pleasant company, in the early evening, I took care of serving the drinks with joy. It was always a pleasure to have a chat and a joke here and there. Everybody was understandably in a very good mood after all the work was done and of course the Ale helped with it, too. Nevertheless, it was always a pleasant atmosphere and if somebody had one over the eight and behaved inappropriately, they were accompanied home by some friendly arms. I enjoyed these evenings in the inn but today my mood sank, as I went with a jug of ale through the dining area and reached a table in a corner of the room.

There sat our five new guests and their oh so charming leader gave me a wide grin as I approached them.

"Do we get something to drink?", he asked and I nodded shortly before I put down the jug, went to the bar, and returned with five tankards which I filled.

"Thank you, beautiful." He raised his tankard to me before he put it to his lips. I kept every reply to myself but then I irritatingly remembered that these men were guests and I had to be friendly and polite. No matter how hard it was. So I put on a smile as I asked: "I trust the gentlemen had a good rest?"

The four others nodded simultaneously and I began to ask myself if they were able to talk at all. Again it was Nathan, who answered.

"Very good. Although I have to confess that I've missed something warm and soft by my side." He grinned suggestively and I had to suppress the urge to pour the remaining beer in the jug over his head. As a woman, I already had to endure many things like that but never before, a man had been so persistent and impudent in his "amorous" intentions.

I looked at him irritated but I didn't say anything. I just grabbed the handle of the jug in my hand firmer than it was necessary and turned away to attend to my work again. But I couldn't do it entirely. Over and over again I was called to the table in the corner to refill their tankards and every time I received some doubtful compliment which I couldn't throw out with open reluctance eventually. It seemed as if every snub was goading Nathan on and it became worse with every Ale he had. Also, his comrades had had a few and began to grin or to laugh when their leader emitted one of his sayings. I even had been asked by Terry, Godfrey, and some sailors, if I wanted them to do something about Nathan, but I always said no. As I did when Corrine offered to take on the serving. I didn't plan to let myself be intimidated by some stupid remarks. At least I still thought so as I returned to the table again.

The mood there was more than tipsy and when I was asked to refill again, I shook my head. "I thought you've had enough."

Nathan's initial laughter died away and he ran his hand over his face before he nodded at the jug in my hand. "That's on us to decide, beautiful. So, if you would be so kind..."

He held his tankard to me but I shook my head again and turned away. But suddenly I was grabbed by my hips and pulled back. Before I could react, I sat on Nathan's lap who immediately wrapped his arms around me and held me like that, as I tried to stand up again, swearing and cursing.

"Whoops, why so weak on your legs? Good that I've caught you, isn't it?", asked Nathan, grinning dirtily and the other men laughed, too.

"Let me go! Now!", I hissed and tried to ram my elbow into his chest. But his grip was so strong, that I couldn't even manage that.

"Why do you want to go? I think it's quite cozy right now", Nathan murmured to me with a chuckle and I squinched up my face when I smelled his beery breath. But luckily three men appeared in front of the table at this moment. The two lumberjacks Terry and Godfrey and a crewmember of the Aquila called Finley.

"I think you've heard what the lady said." Godfrey had folded his arms in front of his chest like the others and gave Nathan a cold, but threatening gaze.

He didn't react immediately but finally freed me from his grip and I instantly leaped onto my feet, just to be pulled "into safety" by Terry. In the meantime, Nathan's men had risen from their chairs while their leader himself was still sprawling on his seat.

"I was just joking. Isn't it understandable that you try to take up with a girl after having some ale?" He folded his hands in front of his belly, cocked his head, and looked at the three men in front of him.

"You better open your eyes and pay attention with whom you want to take up. The lady is married and as the Captain's wife taboo anyway, understand?", Finley replied.

But Nathan just laughed over his words and looked at me. "Well, I hoped that this ring there is only pretty jewelry." He looked at Finley. "Maybe your Captain should take care of his wifey. I believed she had given me clear signals. Didn't she?"

Widely grinning he looked at his comrades who started to laugh. But they were the only ones who found this statement amusing.

Finley took a threatening step towards Nathan, who stood up now, no sign of a grin on his face anymore. While the two men put on a silent duel with their gazes, Nathan's comrades stepped behind him and made Terry and Godfrey step forward, too. Several chairs were also moved back when other sailors stood up and seriously looked into our direction. A paralyzing silence spread inside the room in which my gaze slid back and forth between Finley and Nathan. Oh God, shouldn't I be able to defend myself? I just opened my mouth to intervene, but Oliver already stepped between the two squabblers.

"Stop it!", he barked. "I don't want such quarrels here and especially not such behavior towards the ladies." His gaze was only aimed at Nathan now. "Either it is peaceful now, or you can pack your things together and leave."

Nobody said anything for a moment but then Nathan grinned widely again and lifted his hands.

"All right, all right. We surely don't want any trouble. I think we will retire now."

He gave a signal to his men and gave me a last meaningful grin. "Good night, beautiful. Send your husband my regards."

_Certainly not._

Grim gazes followed the five gentlemen until they had finally disappeared to their rooms. Not until then, I allowed myself to take a deep breath. "Thank you", I said and smiled at my "saviours". But they shook their heads.

"You don't have to thank us for that", said Terry, and Oliver put his hand onto my shoulder.

"Do you want to go home?"

I gave him an almost indignant gaze and shook my head. "I will stay. Corrine needs my help anyway", I said determined and saw Oliver smirking before I went to the kitchen.

There I was directly received by a worried Corrine who had noticed everything from the kitchen door and who asked me several times if I was alright. I had to chuckle about her concerns and reassured her. Nathan had scared me but luckily I had enough friends here who had helped me and as I said that, the innkeeper nodded with a smile.

"But I feel sorry for you anyway", she said and patted my arm. "I still remember what I always had listened to in my youth. Some men believe that they can bag women like fair game. Bu these years are over for me already."

She laughed amused and I shook my head smirking. "You're just surrounded by men with the wrong taste."

Corrine uttered a giggle while she patted my arm again. "Thank you for trying to cheer an old woman up."

* * *

Luckily the rest of the evening was quiet and without any other disturbances and I felt glad somehow, as I left the inn and went home. The sun had set already and long shadows roamed over the paths of the homestead while a cool breeze of the sea blew around me. Shivering slightly I wrapped my waistcoat tighter around my torso and quickened my steps. When I reached the bridge, I stopped surprised as I saw a figure approaching me quickly. It was only a dark shadow but I recognized its figure and its walk and a bright smile appeared on my face.

"Hey. Do you want to...pick...me...up?" I started to stammer when Connor swept past me without saying a word. You couldn't describe his walk differently than energetic and I looked after him in confusion for a short moment.

"Connor?" No reaction. "Hello?" He stubbornly kept going as if he either hadn't seen me or hadn't heard me. I snorted and ran after him.

"I'm glad to see you, too. How was your day?", I called after him, full of sarcasm while I tried to catch up with him. But this man made huge steps. I had to run to finally reach him and firmly grabbed his arm. "Could you please tell me what is wrong with you?", I asked and he turned around with a growl. He was mad as hell.

"Are they still here?"

"Who?" I blinked in surprise but at the same time, I understood who he meant and his answer became unnecessary.

"The men Finley talked about. Are they still here?"

I closed my eyes shortly and took a deep breath. I would have preferred it if he hadn't learned about this incident. His reaction had been expectable.

"Yes, they are", I answered reluctantly. "But everything's fine. Finley and the others have put them in their places."

Connor huffed and reminded me of an angry bull who wanted to thrust its horns into somebody's body. In Connor's case, it was his tomahawk.

"Nothing is fine", he growled. "The one man has pestered and insulted you. This incident is not over for me yet." He pulled his arm away from my grip and went on which made me run again.

"You don't have to start a fight. He has been reprimanded and I am fine. He's an idiot and that's why you shouldn't give attention to him."

I easily could have talked to a stone because Connor showed no reaction to my words and we came dangerously close to the inn again.

"Stop, goddammit", I swore and when he didn't, I grabbed his coat and braced my feet against the ground just to be torn forward in an instant. I let him go again, started to stumble, and ended up face down on the grown. My loving husband just walked on.

_He must be kidding..._

"Connor Kenway! If you do not stop in an instant, I will...you...you won't be allowed to share the bed with me for a long time!"

I almost hadn't expected it, but Connor's steps actually slowed down and he stopped finally. He turned around and unfortunately I couldn't see his face as he saw me lying on the ground. Certainly, my face was as angry as his and swearing quietly, I stood up and patted the dust from my clothes. Connor came back to me but gestured towards the inn.

"Do you want to put up with it?", he asked angrily. "Do you expect me to accept that someone treats you like that?"

_No, thanks for asking. I didn't get hurt after falling into the dirt because of you._

I had to bite my tongue to hold back this sharp comment but probably it would have provoked Connor even more. I should try to reassure him instead. So I approached him and wrapped my arms around him, hoping to seize him like that if he wanted to go on.

"Of course not", I said gently. "But I don't want you to pay more attention to these men than they deserve it. They are not worth the trouble."

Connor huffed again and stared at a spot over my head while he clenched his jaws.

"But they...", he began again but instead of giving him the chance to speak, I stretched and pressed a peck on his lips. His expression hardened.

"I will not..."

Another kiss.

"Nobody should..."

And another.

"Lillian!"

When I wanted to kiss him again, Connor seized my chin with his hand and stopped me.

"I am serious. I cannot accept that someone behaves like that in our homestead."

"And I can't accept that you go there and pick a fight with them. Knowing you, it's not going to be a peaceful conversation." I raised an eyebrow while Connor kept looking at me with a grim expression. But at least he didn't contradict and so I gave him a gentle smile.

"Please. Calm yourself and let us go home. I'm tired and freezing. These men are going to leave tomorrow and we will have our peace and quiet back. Please, don't get worked up about them. They are not worth it."

Connor looked me over silently for a moment and even though he was still looking irritated, I felt him relax a bit.

"All right", he grumbled and I had to suppress a sigh of relief. That had been close to a catastrophe.


End file.
